NEET MDS Lessons
General Pathology
Psoriasis
1. Characterized by skin lesions that appear as scaly, white plaques.
2. Caused by rapid proliferation of the epidermis.
3. Autoimmune pathogenesis; exact mechanism is unclear.
Cholangitis
Cholangitis is inflammation of the bile ducts.
1. It is usually associated with biliary duct obstruction by gallstones or carcinoma, which leads to infection with enteric organisms. This results in purulent exudation within the bile ducts and bile stasis.
2. Clinically, cholangitis presents with jaundice, fever, chills. leukocytosis, and right upper quadrant pain
Thyroid goitres
A goitre is any enlargement of part or whole of the thyroid gland. There are two types:
1. Toxic goitre, i.e. goitre associated with thyrotoxicosis.
2. Non-toxic goitre, i.e. goitre associated with normal or reduced levels of thyroid hormones.
Toxic goitre
Graves disease
This is the most common cause of toxic goitre
Toxic multinodular goitre
This results from the development of hyperthyroidism in a multinodular goitre
Non-toxic goitres
Diffuse non-toxic goitre (simple goitre)
This diffuse enlargement of the thyroid gland is classified into:
Endemic goitre—due to iodine deficiency. Endemic goiter occurs in geographic areas (typically mountainous)) where the soil, water, and food supply contain little iodine. The term endemic is used when goiters are present in more than 10% of the population in a given region. With increasing availability of dietary iodine supplementation, the frequency and severity of endemic goiter have declined significantly. Sporadic goiter is less common than endemic goiter. The condition is more common in females than in males, with a peak incidence in puberty or young adult life, when there is an
increased physiologic demand for T4.
Sporadic goitre—caused by goitrogenic agents (substances that induce goitre formation) or familial in origin. Examples of goitrogenic agents include certain cabbage species, because of their thiourea content, and specific drugs or chemicals, such as iodide, paraminosalicylic acid and drugs used in the treatment of thyrotoxicosis. Familial cases show inherited autosomal recessive traits, which interfere with hormone synthesis via various enzyme pathways (these are dyshormonogenic goitres).
Hereditary enzymatic defects interfering with thyroid hormone synthesis (dyshormonogenetic goiter).
Physiological goitre—enlargement of the thyroid gland in females during puberty or pregnancy; the reason is unclear.
Multinodular goitre
This is the most common cause of thyroid enlargement and is seen particularly in the elderly (nearly all simple goitres eventually become multinodular). The exact aetiology is uncertain but it may represent an uneven responsiveness of various parts of the thyroid to fluctuating TSH levels over a period of many years.
Morphological features are:
• Irregular hyperplastic enlargement of the entire thyroid gland due to the development of wellcircumscribed nodules of varying size.
• Larger nodules filled with brown, gelatinous colloid; consequently, it is often termed multinodular colloid goitres.
Clinical features
- A large neck mass, goiters may also cause airway obstruction, dysphagia, and compression of large vessels in the neck and upper thorax.
- A hyperfunctioning ("toxic") nodule may develop within a long-standing goiter, resulting in hyperthyroidism. This condition is not accompanied by the infiltrative ophthalmopathy and dermopathy.
- Less commonly, there may be hypothyroidism.
Hepatitis A virus.
- Hepatitis A (HAV) is a self-limited hepatitis caused by an RNA virus
- Symptoms last 2 to 4 weeks.
- There is no risk of developing chronic hepatitis in the future.
- Incubation period is short, lasting 2 to 6 weeks.
- Infection is identified by HAV-specific antibodies (IgM if acute, IgG if past disease).
- The usual route of infection is fecal-oral transmission by contaminated food. There is no carrier state and no chronic disease
- Laboratory diagnosis: ELISA test for IgM antibody.
- Vaccine: killed virus.
- Prevention: serum immunoglobulins are available.
Nevus
1. Commonly known as moles.
2. A benign, pigmented tumor of melanocytes, found deep within connective tissue.
3. Types of skin nevi:
a. Junctional nevus—found in the epidermis.
It is the only type of nevus that may be considered to be premalignant.
b. Compound nevus—found in both the epidermis and underlying dermis.
c. Intraepidermal nevus—found in the dermis.
Multiple myeloma.
Blood picture:
- Marked rouleaux formation.
- Normpcytic normochromic anaemia.
- There may be leucopenia or leucoery!hrohlastic reaction.
- Atypical plasma cells may be seen in some patients
- Raised ESR
- Monoclonal hypergammaglobulinaemia
- If light chains are produced in excess, they are excreted in urine as bence jones protein
Bone marrow
- Hyper cellular
- Plasma cells from at least 15 – 30% atypical forms and myeloma cells are seen.
German measles (rubella)
- sometimes called "three day measles".
- incubation 14-21 days; infectious 7 days before the rash and 14 days after the onset of the rash.
- in adults, rubella present with fever, headache, and painful postauricular Lymphadenopathy 1 to 2 days prior to the onset of rash, while in children, the rash is usually the first sign.
- rash (vasculitis) consists of tiny red to pink macules (not raised) that begins on the head and spreads downwards and disappears over the ensuing 1-3 days; rash tends to become confluent.
- 1/3rd of young women develop arthritis due to immune-complexes.
- splenomegaly (50%)