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( Pathology)
Pathology (from Greek p????, pathos, "fate, harm"; and -????a, -logia) is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs, tissues, bodily fluids and whole bodies (Autopsy). The term also encompasses the related scientific study of disease processes, called General pathology. Medical pathology is divided in two main branches, Anatomical pathology and Clinical pathology. Veterinary pathology is concerned with animal disease whereas Phytopathology is the study of plant diseases. The history of pathology can be traced to the earliest application of the scientific method to the field of medicine, a development which occurred in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age and in Western Europe during the Italian Renaissance. The first physician known to have made postmortem dissections was the Arabian physician Avenzoar (1091–1161). Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) is generally recognized to be the father of microscopic pathology. Most early pathologists were also practicing physicians or surgeons. General pathology, also called investigative pathology, experimental pathology or theoretical pathology, is a broad and complex scientific field which seeks to understand the mechanisms of injury to cells and tissues, as well as the body's means of responding to and repairing injury. Areas of study include cellular adaptation to injury, necrosis, inflammation, wound healing and neoplasia. It forms the foundation of pathology, the application of this knowledge to diagnose diseases in humans and animals.
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