Crash Course Pathology

Citation

Mckinney, O., & Woodman, I. (2019). Crash Course Pathology (5th ed.; H. Shaikh, S. T. Datta & P. Xiu, Eds.). Elsevier.

Chapter Summary

The fifth edition runs to about 440 pages in eighteen chapters followed by a self-assessment section. Its authors are consultant histopathologists (at King's College Hospital, London, and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust), and the series editors are listed with them. As in other Crash Course volumes, the publisher describes chapters that move briskly through the curriculum, integrate clinical considerations with the basic science, and use "Hints and Tips" boxes and other aide-mémoires to pick out key points; a downloadable enhanced eBook is included. The book has two halves in the usual pattern of a pathology course: six chapters of general pathology, then twelve chapters of systemic pathology.

Chapters 1–2: Introduction to pathology; Postmortem pathology

The book opens with an introduction to the discipline and then gives a whole chapter to postmortem pathology, the autopsy side of the specialty; Pathology Illustrated, for comparison, has no chapter on it.

Chapters 3–4: Inflammation, repair and cell death; Cancer

The core processes of general pathology: cell death, the inflammatory response and the repair of tissue in one chapter, and cancer in the next.

Chapters 5–6: Infectious disease; Molecular pathology

General pathology closes with infectious disease and with molecular pathology, the study of disease at the level of genes and molecules.

Chapters 7–10: Pathology of the nervous system; of the head and neck; of the cardiovascular system; of the respiratory system

Systemic pathology begins with the nervous system and the head and neck, then moves to the heart and circulation and the lungs.

Chapters 11–13: Pathology of the gastrointestinal system; of the hepatopancreaticobiliary system; of the kidney and urinary tract

The digestive tract is followed by a separate chapter on the liver, pancreas and biliary tree, and then by the kidney and urinary tract.

Chapters 14–16: Pathology of the endocrine system; of the reproductive system; of the musculoskeletal system

The endocrine glands, the reproductive system and the musculoskeletal system each have a chapter.

Chapters 17–18: Pathology of the blood and immune system; Pathology of the skin

The systemic part ends with haematological and immune disease and with the skin.

Self-assessment

Single best answer (SBA) questions and extended-matching questions (EMQs), each with a separate set of answers, in formats the publisher describes as matching current examinations.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–2: The discipline

• Pathology: the study of the causes and mechanisms of disease, which links basic science with clinical medicine.
• Postmortem pathology: the examination of the body after death to establish the cause of death and the nature of disease.

Chapters 3–6: General pathology

• Cell death: the ways in which cells die after injury.
• Inflammation and repair: the body's response to injury and the healing that follows.
• Cancer: neoplastic growth, the subject of its own chapter.
• Molecular pathology: disease understood and diagnosed through genes and molecules.

Chapters 7–18: Systemic pathology

• Organ-system approach: the general processes applied in turn to each system, from the nervous system to the skin.
• Hepatopancreaticobiliary disease: disease of the liver, pancreas and biliary tract, given a chapter separate from the gut.
• Blood and immune system: haematological and immunological disease, treated together.

Self-assessment

• SBA and EMQ formats: single best answer questions and extended-matching questions, two common formats of written medical examinations.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Authors from the specialty. The two authors are practising consultant histopathologists, and the series adds its usual check by faculty advisers, so the selection of what matters is made by people who work in pathology.
• Complete structure in a compact book. Six general chapters and twelve systemic ones cover the whole of a typical undergraduate pathology syllabus in about 440 pages, including separate chapters on postmortem and molecular pathology.
• Revision features built in. The publisher stresses "Hints and Tips" boxes, other aide-mémoires and the integration of clinical considerations with basic science.
• Two question formats. Both SBA and EMQ questions, with answers, give practice in the written formats that many medical schools use.

Limitations

• Revision rather than first learning. The series presents itself as a study companion and exam aid that avoids unnecessary detail; morphology, mechanisms and the evidence behind them are developed at length in the longer textbooks.
• General pathology is compressed. Cell injury, inflammation and repair share a single chapter, and the contents list no separate chapters on haemodynamic disorders (thrombosis, embolism, shock), immunopathology or genetic disease. Some of this may fall under the systemic chapters, but students should check where these topics are covered.
• Edition age. The fifth edition dates from 2019. Molecular pathology and classification systems change quickly, so recent updates need to come from a current textbook or lecture notes.
• Few signs of an image emphasis. The publisher's description emphasises text boxes, summaries and questions rather than gross or microscopic images, so students who must recognise lesions should plan on an image-rich source as well.

Where It Fits in the Course

In this pathology course, Crash Course Pathology is the exam-oriented revision guide. Its nearest companion is Roberts and MacDuff's Pathology Illustrated, also aimed at beginners but built around one- or two-page visual units of drawings and diagrams; the two suit different learners, and they can be combined, using the illustrated book to understand a process and Crash Course to revise it.

For learning the subject properly, Robbins & Kumar Basic Pathology is the shorter companion to the comprehensive Robbins reference, written for a first course and strong on the gross and microscopic appearance of lesions, and Underwood's Pathology links disease mechanisms to clinical presentation with cases and key-fact summaries. Either makes a natural main text alongside Crash Course. Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease and Rubin's Pathology are comprehensive references for deeper study of particular topics.

How to Use This Book

The publisher's readership is medical students, with other health students and professionals who need the essentials of pathology quickly. It assumes the anatomy, physiology and cell biology of the first months of a medical or health-science course.

A practical plan:

• Begin with general pathology. Read Chapters 3–6 carefully before any systemic chapter: the vocabulary of cell death, inflammation, repair, neoplasia, infection and molecular change is used everywhere else.
• Read Chapters 1–2 for orientation. The introduction and the postmortem chapter explain what pathologists do and how the cause of death is established, useful context for both examinations and clinical work.
• Pair systemic chapters with teaching. Read each of Chapters 7–18 after the corresponding lectures or alongside a main textbook, and connect each disease to the general processes from Chapters 3–6.
• Make the hints-and-tips boxes your revision list. Collect them into flashcards or a one-page summary per system.
• Use the questions in blocks. Attempt the SBAs and EMQs without notes, mark them, then return to the relevant chapter for every error. Leave the EMQs until several systems have been covered.
• Fill the gaps. Use an image-rich text, an atlas or departmental slide sets for morphology, and check any topic not named in the contents, such as thrombosis and shock, against a main textbook.