Introduction to Pathology

 Pathology is the study of disease by scientific methods.

 The word pathology came from the Latin words “patho” & “logy”. ‘Patho’
means disease and ‘logy’ means study
 Diseases is defined as an abnormal variation in structure or function of any
part of the body.
 General pathology is the study of the mechanisms of disease (with
emphasis on aetiology and pathogenesis)
 Systematic pathology is the study of diseases as they occur within
particular organ systems – it involves aetiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology,
macro- and microscopic appearance, specific diagnostic features, natural history
and sequelae.

 Pathology provides the basis for understanding:

1. Etiology,
2. Pathogenesis,
3. Morphologic changes and
4. Functional derangements and clinical significance.

 Techniques of Pathology
The pathologist uses the following techniques to the diagnose diseases:
a. Histopathology
b. Cytopathology
c. Hematopathology
d. Immunohistochemistry
e. Molecular techniques

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A. Histopathological techniques
Histopathological examination studies tissues under the microscope. During this
study, the pathologist looks for abnormal structures in the tissue.
Tissues for histopathological examination are obtained by biopsy. Biopsy is a tissue
sample from a living person to identify the disease. Biopsy can be either incisional
or excisional.
In order to examine the tissue (that obtained by biopsy) under the microscope, the
staining of tissue blocks is become a next step after tissue processing.
there are different kinds of stains that used in histopathology, the most commonly
used is Hematoxylin and Eosin stain (H&E), Hematoxylin is a basic dye that is
stains the nuclei giving it a bluish color, while eosin stains the cell's cytoplasm
giving it a pinkish stain.

B. Cytopathologic techniques
Cytopathology is the study of cells from various body sites to determine the cause or
nature of disease. for example: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC)

C. Hematological examination
This is a method by which abnormalities of the cells of the blood and their
precursors in the bone marrow are investigated to diagnose the different kinds of
anemia & leukemia.

D. Immunohistochemistry
This is a method is used to detect a specific antigen in the tissue in order to identify
the type of disease.

H. Molecular techniques
Different molecular techniques such as fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) can
be used to detect genetic diseases and can be helping in diagnosis of malignancies.

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