Pathophysiology is the study of the disturbance of normal mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions, either caused by a disease, or resulting from a disease or abnormal syndrome or condition that may not qualify to be called a disease. An alternate definition is "the study of the biological and physical manifestations of disease as they correlate with the underlying abnormalities and physiological disturbances."^[1] The term disease refers to an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs function. ...

An example, from the field of infectious disease, would be the study of a toxin released by a bacterium, and what that toxin does to the body to cause harm, one possible result being sepsis. Another example is the study of the chemical changes that take place in body tissue due to inflammation. This false-colored electron micrograph shows a malaria sporozoite migrating through the midgut epithelia. ... The venom of the black widow spider is a potent latrotoxin. ... Sepsis (in Greek Σήψις, putrefaction) is a serious medical condition, resulting from the immune response to a severe infection. ... An abscess on the skin, showing the redness and swelling characteristic of inflammation. ...

Pathophysiology can be looked at as the intersection of two older, related disciplines: (normal) physiology and pathology. Leonardo da Vincis Vitruvian Man, an important early achievement in the study of physiology. ... Pathology (from Greek pathos, feeling, pain, suffering; and logos, study of; see also -ology) is the study of the processes underlying disease and other forms of illness, harmful abnormality, or dysfunction. ...

Physiology is the study of normal, healthy bodily function (as opposed to anatomy, which is the study of normal structure). When something disrupts normal physiological processes, it enters the realm of pathophysiology. Anatomical drawing of the human muscles from the Encyclopédie. ...

Pathology, broadly speaking, is the "study of the nature and cause of disease."^[2] or the results of disease in the body. Pathophysiology looks at the detailed malfunctioning that comes from or, alternately, causes disease.

One caution in this approach is that healthy structure and function is not precisely the same in any two individuals.

See also

• Pathology

Pathology (from Greek pathos, feeling, pain, suffering; and logos, study of; see also -ology) is the study of the processes underlying disease and other forms of illness, harmful abnormality, or dysfunction. ...

Reference

1. ^ Craig Scanlon, Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Therapy, St. Louis, 1999, p. 1186.
2. ^ Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, Clayton Thomas, Philadelphia, 1993, p. 1445.

• Kumar, V., Abbas, A. and N. Fausto. 2004. Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company