Pathophysiology, a special field of medicine, integrates knowledge from
various biomedical sciences. It is a dynamic study that provides the basic
link between the fundamental and clinical medical sciences and their
application to clinical practice. Pathophysiology deals with disordered or
altered functions. The emphasis is on understanding aetiology and
pathogenesis of disorder. Consequently, the study of pathophysiology is
essential to understand the rationale for appropriate diagnosis and
therapeutic intervention in disease conditions, as well as preventive
measures and procedures. Physiology is the study of normal, healthy bodily
functions, as opposed to pathophysiology, which is the study of dysfunctions
in living organisms. Namely, when something disrupts physiological processes,
it enters the realm of pathophysiology. As opposed to pathoanatomy, which
examines morphologic alterations resulting from disease in the body,
pathophysiology looks at the detailed dysfunctions of cells, tissues, organs
or organ systems, that come from or, alternately, cause disease.
Pathophysiology draws attention, not only to an access to the organ affected
with pathological process, but also the whole access to the patient. Thereby,
there are two approaches to pathophysiology, experimental and clinical. An
experiment is the fundamental pathophysiological method that enables the
students to actively participate in the learning process of the nature and
cause of various diseases. Throughout time the conceptual framework of
pathophysiology, both as a medical discipline and a university course is
designed to present the students physiological disturbances in the clearest
and most enjoyable way. In spite of a constantly growing body of biomedical
knowledge and techniques, pathophysiologists are still far from a complete
understanding of molecular system dysfunctions and their relevance in a wide
range of diseases.
A critical role for plasminogen in inflammation
