About Pathology

Anatomy lays the foundations for understanding how the body works. But to understand what happens when things go wrong and disease sets in, we must turn to the science of pathology. Since pathologists tend to be hidden away in laboratories, the nature of pathology and its role in medical practice is often misunderstood. Pathology is the hidden science of modern medicine.

When people hear the term 'pathologist', they usually think it's something to do with dead people, involving autopsies and investigating suspicious deaths for the police. But this is an inaccurate caricature. Although a relatively small number of 'forensic pathologists' do specialise in this area, most pathologists are busy helping the living.

The majority of pathologists work in hospital clinics and laboratories, performing the tests that help other doctors make the right decisions for their patients. Most people remain unaware of the pathologist's contribution when they see their family doctor or hospital specialist. But your doctor's actions are critically influenced by the dozens or hundreds of pathology results that they see and request every day, as they strive to make the right diagnosis and offer you the best treatment. Every time a blood sample, biopsy or cervical smear is taken, it will end up on a pathologist's bench for assessment and testing.

Put simply, pathology is the study of disease. Pathologists study the causes of disease and the ways in which diseases and treatments affect our bodies.

Compared to some branches of medical study like anatomy, pathology is a fairly young science. The foundations were laid in the 19th century, but pathology only began to develop as a clinical discipline in the 1930s. Initially, pathologists dealt with all aspects of disease, but progress was rapid and pathology quickly developed its own subdivisions. In the UK, The Royal College of Pathologists was founded in 1962 to co-ordinate this development and maintain the high standards of British pathology.

Today, the science of pathology permeates all branches of medicine. Recognising patterns of disease allows pathologists to establish reliable diagnoses. And following up this understanding of disease has often allowed effective treatments to be devised or preventative measures to be put in place. Screening programmes, for example, rely heavily on pathological input.

The achievements of modern pathology have been impressive. Highlights, to name but a few, include: development of vaccines; refinement of methods to diagnose disease from tissue samples; improvement of the safety profile of blood transfusions; establishing patterns of infection and treatment in epidemics; manipulating the immune system to aid organ transplantation.

Every day, these incredible advances, together with literally millions of routine tests, underpin your doctor's ability to effectively diagnose and treat disease.