Pathology

Pathology is the study of disease and it forms a major foundation in diagnosis of a certain condition in modern medicine. It refers to the study of disease in general but at the same time incorporating a wide range of biochemical researches such as the analysis of tissue, cells, and body fluid samples to accurately diagnose a disease. As the saying goes, the eyes do not see what the brain does not know. Therefore, it is essential that medical students know their anatomy, biochemistry and physiology of the human body before encountering with the study of diseases. This is to ensure that the students are able to differentiate between normal and abnormal morphology and function of a cell or body tissue to help in making the correct diagnosis.

FOUNDATION BLOCK

Breast Cancer Cells Inflammatory cells

In the foundation block, we learned the basic cellular abnormalities that could occur within the human body which will then induce apoptosis of the cell; self-induced cell death. Besides cell death, many things could go wrong as well such as over stimulation of cell division which leads to the basis of formation of cancer cells and tumors. Mechanisms of how cancer forms within parts of the human body were learned in depth as well. Many practical classes were conducted to allow us to view microscopically the morphology changes of the affected cells in various diseases. I enjoyed learning Pathology very much because it helps as a form of application for the other subjects that I had studied because without knowing in detail about the normal physiology of the human body, it is impossible to understand this subject. Therefore, Pathology helps me understand other subjects better and at the same time diagnose a patient’s disease. Our lecturer has been very helpful by giving us a format to study by which is listing each disease based on four aspects which are causes (etiology), development (pathogenesis), structural alterations induced within the cell or body tissue (morphology change) and the functional consequences of these changes (clinical features). I use diagrams and flow charts to better understand the pathogenesis of the diseases and it has proven quite helpful in my studies.

HEMATOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY BLOCK

Hyperproliferation of white blood cells Abnormal red blood cells

Enlarged Liver Enlarged Spleen

In the system block, Pathology is focused mainly on the organs and systems within the body that are affected by certain diseases. In this block, we focused mainly on diseases affecting the blood cells such as anemia and consequences upon the body in case of any lacking blood cells within the body. For instance, lack of platelets and blood clotting factors will cause prolonged bleeding (hemorrhage) and eventually leading to anemia. Excessive breaking down of blood cells on the other hand will cause jaundice and enlargement of spleen and liver because these organs are responsible for the digestion of blood cells. Many correlations of diseases could be made in this block based on their causes and effect (clinical features). As usual, I organized each disease based on the four aspects mentioned earlier to view the disease as a whole so that I can understand it better.

CARDIOVASCULAR BLOCK

Gross Anatomy of Heart

This block focuses mainly on the pathology of the heart such as the pathogenesis of heart attack, heart failure, congenital heart diseases due to birth defects and inflammation of the heart due to microbial infections. We had many practical sessions to help us better appreciate the morphology changes occurring within the heart cells so that we could understand the disease by visualizing the sequence of defects that occur.