Thehistory of pathology can be traced to the earliest application of thescientific method to the field ofmedicine, a development which occurred in theMiddle East during theIslamic Golden Age and inWestern Europe during theItalian Renaissance.
Early systematic humandissections were carried out by theAncient Greek physiciansHerophilus of Chalcedon andErasistratus of Chios in the early part of the third century BC.[1] The first physician known to have madepostmortemdissections was theArabian physicianAvenzoar (1091–1161).Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902) is generally recognized to be the father of microscopicpathology. Most early pathologists were also practicingphysicians orsurgeons.
Early understanding of the origins of diseases constitutes the earliest application of thescientific method to the field ofmedicine, a development which occurred in theMiddle East during theIslamic Golden Age[2] and inWestern Europe during theItalian Renaissance.[3]
TheGreek physicianHippocrates, the founder of scientific medicine, was the first to deal with the anatomy and the pathology of human spine.[4]Galen developed an interest in anatomy from his studies ofHerophilus andErasistratus.[5] The concept of studying disease through the methodical dissection and examination of diseased bodies, organs, and tissues may seem obvious today, but there are few if any recorded examples of trueautopsies performed prior to thesecond millennium. Though the pathology ofcontagion was understood byMuslim physicians since the time ofAvicenna (980–1037) who described it inThe Canon of Medicine (c. 1020),[6] the first physician known to have madepostmortemdissections was theArabian physicianAvenzoar (1091–1161) who proved that the skin diseasescabies was caused by aparasite, followed byIbn al-Nafis (b. 1213) who used dissection to discoverpulmonary circulation in 1242.[7] In the 15th century, anatomic dissection was repeatedly used by the Italian physicianAntonio Benivieni (1443–1502) to determine cause of death.[3] Antonio Benivieni is also credited with having introduced necropsy to the medical field.[8] Perhaps the most famous early gross pathologist wasGiovanni Morgagni (1682–1771). Hismagnum opus,De Sedibus et Causis Morborum per Anatomem Indagatis, published in 1761, describes the findings of over 600 partial and complete autopsies, organised anatomically and methodically correlated with the symptoms exhibited by the patients prior to their demise. Although the study of normal anatomy was already well advanced at this date,De Sedibus was one of the first treatises specifically devoted to the correlation of diseased anatomy with clinical illness.[9][10] By the late 1800s, an exhaustive body of literature had been produced on the gross anatomical findings characteristic of known diseases. The extent of gross pathology research in this period can be epitomized by the work of the Viennese pathologist (originally from Hradec Kralove in the Czech Rep.)Carl Rokitansky (1804–1878), who is said to have performed 20,000 autopsies, and supervised an additional 60,000, in his lifetime.[3][11]
Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902) is generally recognized to be the father of microscopic pathology. While the compoundmicroscope had been invented approximately 150 years prior, Virchow was one of the first prominent physicians to emphasize the study of manifestations of disease which were visible only at the cellular level.[3][12] A student of Virchow's,Julius Cohnheim (1839–1884) combinedhistology techniques with experimental manipulations to studyinflammation, making him one of the earliestexperimental pathologists.[3] Cohnheim also pioneered the use of thefrozen section procedure; a version of this technique is widely employed by modern pathologists to render diagnoses and provide other clinical information intraoperatively.[13]
As new research techniques, such aselectron microscopy,immunohistochemistry, andmolecular biology have expanded the means by which biomedical scientists can study disease, the definition and boundaries of investigative pathology have become less distinct. In the broadest sense, nearly all research which links manifestations of disease to identifiable processes in cells, tissues, or organs can be consideredexperimental pathology.[14]
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