NEET MDS Lessons
General Pathology
CONGESTION
Congestion or hyperaemia means an increase in the content of blood in an organ. It may be :
A. Active - due to increased arterial flow to the organ with dilatation of micro vessels as in
- Inflammation.
- Increased metabolic activity.
- Neurogenic blushing.
B. Passive - due to decreased venous drainage resulting in pooling of blood. There is always an associated element of oedema.
Hepatitis D virus—can only infect cells previously infected with hepatitis B.
Delta hepatitis (HDV) is associated with a 35-nm RNA virus composed of a delta antigen-bearing core surrounded by HBV's Ag coat;
HDV requires HBV for replication.
Delta hepatitis can cause quiescent HBV states to suddenly worsened . Its transmission is the same as that of HBV.
Hepatitis E virus—a high mortality rate in infected pregnant women.
Hepatitis E (HEV) is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus. The disease is typically self-limited and does not evolve into chronic hepatitis; it may, however, be cholestatic.
Pregnant women may develop fulminant disease.
Transmission is by the fecal oral route.
HEV occurs mainly in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia.
Pneumoconioses—are environmentally related lung diseases that result from chronic inhalation of various substances.
1. Silicosis (stone mason’s disease)
a. Inhalant: silica dust.
b. Associated with extensive fibrosis of the lungs.
c. Patients have a higher susceptibility to tuberculosis infections.
2. Asbestosis
a. Inhalant: asbestos fibers.
b. Associated with the presence of pleural plaques.
c. Consequences include:
(1) Mesothelioma (malignant mesothelial tumor).
(2) Bronchogenic carcinoma.
3. Anthracosis
a. Inhalant: carbon dust.
b. Usually not as harmful as silicosis or asbestosis.
c. Associated with the presence of macrophages containing carbon.
Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Syndromes (MEN)
The MEN syndromes are a group of inherited diseases resulting in proliferative lesions (hyperplasias, adenomas, and carcinomas) of multiple endocrine organs. Even in one organ, the tumors are often multifocal. These tumors are usually more aggressive and recur in a higher proportion of cases than similar but sporadic endocrine tumors.
Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 (MEN1) is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. The gene (MEN1) is a tumor suppressor gene; thus, inactivation of both alleles of the gene is believed to be the basis of tumorigenesis. Organs commonly involved include the parathyroid, pancreas, and pituitary (the 3 Ps). Parathyroid hyperplasia is the most consistent feature of MEN-1 but endocrine tumors of the pancreas are the leading cause of death because such tumors are usually aggressive and present with metastatic disease.
Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, associated with gastrinomas, and hypoglycemia, related to insulinomas, are common endocrine manifestations. Prolactin-secreting macroadenoma is the most frequent pituitary tumor in MEN-1 patients.
Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2 (MEN2)
MEN type 2 is actually two distinct groups of disorders that are unified by the occurrence of activating mutations of the RET protooncogene. Both are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern.
MEN 2A
Organs commonly involved include:
Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid develops in virtually all cases, and the tumors usually occur in the first 2 decades of life. The tumors are commonly multifocal, and foci of C-cell hyperplasia can be found in the adjacent thyroid. Adrenal pheochromocytomas develop in 50% of patients; fortunately, no more than 10% are malignant. Parathyroid gland hyperplasia with primary hyperparathyroidism occurs in a third of patients.
Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia, Type 2B
Organs commonly involved include the thyroid and adrenal medulla. The spectrum of thyroid and adrenal medullary disease is similar to that in MEN-2A. However, unlike MEN-2A, patients with MEN-2B:
1. Do not develop primary hyperparathyroidism
2. Develop extraendocrine manifestations: ganglioneuromas of mucosal sites (gastrointestinal tract, lips, tongue) and marfanoid habitus
LUNG ABSCESS Lung abscess is a localised area of necrosis of lung tissue with suppuration.
It is of 2 types:
- Primary lung abscess that develops in an otherwise normal lung. The commonest cause is aspiration of infected material.
- Secondary lung abscess that develops as a complication of some other disease of the lung or from another site
ETIOPATHOGENESIS.
The microorganisms commonly isolated from the lungs in lung abscess are streptococci, staphylococci and various gram-negative organisms. These are introduced into the lungs from one of the following mechanisms:
1. Aspiration of infected foreign material.
2. Preceding bacterial infection.
3. Bronchial obstruction.
4. Septic embolism.
5. Miscellaneous (i) Infection in pulmonary infarcts, (ii) Amoebic abscesses, (iii) Trauma to the lungs. (iv) Direct extension from a suppurative focus.
Abscesses may be of variable size from a few millimeters to large cavities, 5 to 6 cm in diameter. The cavity often contains exudate. An acute lung abscess is initially surrounded by acute pneumonia and has poorly-defined ragged wall. With passage of time, the abscess becomes chronic and develops fibrous wall.
Microscopic Examination
The characteristic feature is the destruction of lung parenchyma with suppurative exudate in the lung cavity. The cavity is initially surrounded by acute inflammation in the wall but later there is replacement by exudate of lymphocytes, plasma cells and macrophages. In more chronic cases, there is considerable fibroblastic proliferation forming a fibrocollagenic wall.
Psoriasis is a chronic disorder characterized by scaly, erythematous plaques, which histologically are secondary to epidermal proliferation.
- genetic factors (HLA relationships), environmental (physical injury, infection, drugs, photosensitivity), abnormal cellular proliferation (deregulation of epidermal proliferation) and microcirculatory changes in the papillary dermis (diapedesis of neutrophils into the epidermis) are all interrelated.
- the plaques of psoriasis are characteristically well-demarcated pink or salmon colored lesions covered by a loosely-adherent silver-white scale which, when picked off, reveals pinpoint bleeding sites (Auspitz sign).
- the nail changes in psoriasis include pitting, dimpling, thickening and crumbling with a yellowish-brown discoloration of the nail plate.
- the characteristic histologic features of psoriasis include:
- hyperkeratosis
- absence of the granulosa cells (present in lichen planus).
- parakeratosis
- regular, club-shaped elongation of the rete pegs (irregular and saw toothed in lichen planus) with vessel proliferation in the papillary dermis (reason for the bleeding associated with Auspitz sign).
- characteristic subcorneal collection of neutrophils called a Munro's microabscess (diapedesis from vessels in papillary dermi).
- 7% develop HLA B27 positive psoriatic arthritis
Lymphocytosis:
Causes
-Infections in children and the neutropenic infections in adults.
-Lymphocytic leukaemia.
-Infectious mononucleosis.
-Toxdplasmosis.
-Myast'henia gravis.