Pathology
The study of disease. Pathology has been defined as “that branch of medicine which treats of the essential nature of disease.” The word “pathology” comes from the Greek words “pathos” meaning “disease” and “logos” meaning “a treatise” = a treatise of disease. The word “pathology” is sometimes misused to mean disease as, for example, “he didn’t find any pathology” (meaning he found no evidence of disease). A medical doctor that specializes in pathology is called a pathologist. Pathologists are experts at interpreting microscopic views of body tissues.
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- Pathophysiology
Deranged function in an individual or an organ due to a disease. For example, a pathophysiologic alteration is a change in function as distinguished from a structural defect.
- pathy
A suffix derived from the Greek “pathos” meaning “suffering or disease” that serves as a suffix in many terms including myopathy (muscle disease), neuropathy (nerve disease), retinopathopathy (disease of the retina), sympathy (literally, suffering together), etc. The corresponding prefix is patho-, as in pathobiology and pathology.
- Patient
A person who requires medical care. A person receiving medical or dental care or treatment. A person under a physician’s care for a particular disease or condition. A person who is waiting for or undergoing medical treatment and care An individual who is receiving needed professional services that are directed by a licensed practitioner of […]
- Patient autonomy
The right of patients to make decisions about their medical care without their health care provider trying to influence the decision. Patient autonomy does allow for health care providers to educate the patient but does not allow the health care provider to make the decision for the patient.
- Patient-activated cardiac event recorder
A device that is implanted directly under the skin and is programmable with looping memory that records electrocardiogram (ECG) tracings. The recorder is programmed by a physician to retrieve data, and display and print stored data. The device is usually inserted under local anesthesia in skin over the chest. The patient has a hand-held telemetry […]