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What is pathology?
The study of disease at various levels including: the whole body, organs or tissues, the cell, sub-cellular
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What is understanding pathology fundamental to?
- Understanding how disease works
- Diagnosis of disease
- Treatment of disease
- Disease prevention
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What is the definition of disease?
Disease is any alteration from a normal healthy state - whether or not changes are clinically apparent
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What are the clinical pathology tests performed on blood, tissues and fluids to aid clinical diagnosis?
- Haematology
- Clinical biochemistry
- Cytology / fluid cytology
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What are the roles of the anatomic pathologist?
- Biopsy - tissue sections from live animals are surgery, determine the cause of the disease process or processes involved in the lesion development, inform case management
- Necropsy / post mortem examinations - determine the disease process of processes that lead to death, investigation of unexpected death, identification of emerging diseases, disease surveillance
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What are the steps involved in the identification of a mass?
- 1 - fine needle aspirate
- 2 - smear
- (1 and 2 are clinical pathology)
- 3 - routine histology with H&E
- (3 is anatomical pathology)
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What is aetiology?
The underlying cause of disease
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What is pathogenesis?
The sequence of events in lesion development (which are dependent on causal agent and host response)
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What is aetiopathogenesis?
Combines the underlying cause and the sequence of events in pathogenesis
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What are examples of internal aetiological agents?
- Genetic - defects or mutations
- Immune system - defects or normal responses
- Ageing - natural processes or premature ageing
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What are examples of external aetiological agents?
- Physical - trauma, pressure
- Chemical - toxins, poisons, heavy metals
- Infectious - viruses, prions, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae, metazoan parasites
- Environmental - nutrition (deficiencies or excesses), temperature, hygiene, radiation
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What is a congenital disease?
A disease that is present at birth. Aetiological agent acts on embryo / foetus / placenta / uterus / dam before or during pregnancy
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What is an acquired disease?
A disease that develops during an animals life due to effects of one or more aetiological agents
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What is an idiopathic disease?
A disease that has no (yet) known cause
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What is a iatrogenic disease?
A disease that develops directly following medical or surgical intervention
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What factors can modify the course of a disease?
- Age
- Immune system
- Genes
- Other disease
- Environmental factors
- Some drugs e.g. steroids decrease inflammation but inhibit immune responses and healing
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What is the definition of diagnosis?
A concise statement or conclusion concerning the nature, cause or name of a disease
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What are the normal post mortem changes?
- Algor mortis - cooling
- Rigor mortis - rigidity (muscles are in a contracted state 1-6 hours after death but this normally disappears after 1-2 days)
- Livor mortis - hypostatic congestion
- Post mortem clotting
- Autolysis - tissue breakdown due to lack of oxygen
- Putrefaction - dead tissue invaded by anaerobic saprophytic bacteria which digest tissue proteins
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What is an artefact?
A structure or appearance that is not natural but due to man-made manipulation
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What is a morphological diagnosis?
A diagnosis which summarises predominant lesions / structural changes
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What is an aetiological diagnosis?
A diagnosis that comes after the discovery o the specific causal agent
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What is the definition of prognosis?
Statement of the likely outcome of a condition. Can be good / excellent (complete resolution of lesions), uncertain / guarded (lesion might resolve or might get worse), or poor / grave (animal not expected to recover).
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What are the major processes of pathology?
- Inflammation
- Tissue repair
- Thrombosis
- Neoplasia
- Nutritional / metabolic dysfunction
- Necrosis / apoptosis
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