What is the study of disease?

• A. Pathology
• B. Patho-
• C. Pathologic
• D. Pathogenesis

Answer: (A)

Pathology is the study of disease. It’s the field of medicine that explores how diseases begin, how they develop (the processes and progression), and the structural and functional changes they cause in cells, tissues, and organs. This includes examining tissues under the microscope (anatomic pathology) and analyzing laboratory tests to understand disease mechanisms (clinical pathology). The other terms have different roles: a prefix meaning disease, an adjective describing something related to disease, and a term for the sequence of events in how a disease progresses, rather than the field that studies disease itself.