Histologic Pathology in Year One
Emphasis throughout Year One is on normal histology. Examples of pathologic histology are occasionally presented (often from the Webpath website) not to burden you with "extra" material but to reinforce your learning of the normal.
As an appetizer, see Elementary histopathology.Therefore, when offered an example illustrating some particular pathology, ask yourself, "Do the words and images in this example make sense to me? Can I recognize normal tissue structures, if present, and appreciate significant departures from normal?" If not, what might you need to learn about normal histology?
Although each of our Problem Cases does involve a particular disease condition with specific pathological features, premature attention to case-specific details of histologic pathology (i.e., before you have learned the normal histology) may distract from comprehensive understanding. This is particularly true when study time is limited, as it is throughout the year one curriculum.
Meanwhile, If you would like to sample some easily-interpreted examples of histopathology, see the Elementary Histopathology page within this website.
Each example presented in Elementary Histopathology includes a link to an image selected from Webpath. The WebPath website, hosted by The University of Utah Eccles Health Sciences Library, offers a vast resource of materials related to pathology, including many micrographs of normal and pathological specimens. Webpath images are occasionally cited in our SIU Histology, to illustrate clinical relevance for certain details of normal histology.
The following print resources are recommended for further information on pathologic histology.
Milikowski & Berman, Color Atlas of Basic Histopathology (1997).
This is a picture-book, with minimal explanation, but it offers an excellent resource for images of particular pathologies.Kumar, Abbas, & Fausto, Robbins & Cotran's Pathologic Basis of Disease, 7th ed. (2005). The classic textbook for pathology.
Sternberg, Histology for Pathologists, 2nd ed. (1998). An exceptionally detailed (and exceptionally thick) textbook of histology, with emphasis on normal structure. Although this is a reference for specialists (as the title suggests), this text is a good source for answers to details which may not be found in any of the standard introductory textbooks. (More recent editions are less satisfactory as resources for normal histology.)
Comments and questions: dgking@siu.edu
SIUC / School of Medicine / Anatomy / David King
https://histology.siu.edu/pathnote.htm
Last updated: 30 June 2023 / dgk