Pathology

Pathology (in ancient Greek pathos = feeling, pain, suffering and logos = discourse or treatise , i.e., system of formal study) is the study of the processes underlying disease and other forms of illness, harmful abnormality, or dysfunction.

Biological and life studies use

The four main aspects of a disease that are studied in pathology are:

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• Etiology: what causes the disease
• Pathogenesis: the mechanism by which a certain etiological factor causes disease
• Morphologic changes: the structural changes induced in the cells, tissues and organs
• Clinical significance: the functional consequences of the morphologic changes

Fields of pathology include:

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• Anatomical pathology
• Chemical pathology
• Cytopathology (Cellular pathology?)
• Cytogenetics
• Experimental Pathology
• Forensic pathology
• Hematology
• Histology (the study of tissues and the effects of disease upon them)
• Histopathology (the microscopic study of diseased tissue)
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Nosology (the science of classifying diseases)
• Oral and maxillofacial pathology (a specialty of dentistry and pathology)
• Plant pathology