Pathology (disambiguation)
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The term pathology most often refers to the study of disease: its causes, processes, development, consequences, and anatomic and functional manifestations. A field of medicine specialising in the categorization of medical diseases (as studied in the laboratory) is called Pathology. Physicians who specialise in medical laboratory pathology are called Pathologists.
Any abnormal process can be termed to be pathologic. Some examples of the application of the term are listed.
Health pathologies
- Anatomic pathology refers to the study of abnormal structures in medicine. The term encompasses gross (visible to the naked eye), microscopic (cellular), and molecular structural abnormalities. Surgical pathology, autopsy pathology, and forensic pathology refer to specific settings in which analysis of structural abnormalities is undertaken.
- Speech pathology is an area of rehabilitative medicine concerned with the treatment of speech or swallowing impediments.
Psychological / behavioural pathologies
Psychopathology is a term which is used synonymously with mental illness.
Pathological can be used to describe a person's actions in such a way as to credit the action to a disease process.
- pathological purchasing
- pathological consumption
- pathological narcissism
- pathological liar
- pathological gambling
- pathological jealousy
Other Scientific Usage
- phytopathology is the study of abnormalities in plant structure and function.
Pathological is also used in mathematics, physics, and statistics to describe an exceptionally atypical example or set of data:
Media
- Pathology (film), an upcoming film starring Milo Ventimiglia and Alyssa Milano.
| This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
