|
|
|
© Dirk Biddle
The vasculitides are often described in terms of their histopathology, of which there are numerous aspects including the dominating type of blood cells present and the type of immune response elicited, noting also that lesion age may alter the type of inflammatory infiltrate present. Histopathology is also important to the understanding of the aetiology of the vasculitides and the following sections are aimed at providing a basis for this understanding. Here the reader will encounter some complex definitions and terminology. However, a grasp of this terminology is essential, not only to the understanding the biological processes involved in vascular damage, but also in aiding our understanding of the descriptions and classifications of the vasculitides presented in later sections. Again the reader is encouraged to make full use of the glossary.
| back |
-------------
Histopathology: 1. A branch of pathology concerned with the tissue changes characteristic of disease.
2. The tissue changes that affect a part of, or accompany, a disease. (M+)
Aetiology: A branch of knowledge concerned with the causes of particular phenomena, specifically a branch of medical science concerned with the causes and origins of diseases. The study of factors of causation or those associated with the causation of disease or abnormal body states. (OMD)