Preface
At the beginning of his course, an accomplished pathologist said, and we paraphrase:

All we are going to look at in this course is altered histology. If you have mastered

histology, you have mastered pathology. You see within a pathologic specimen remnants

of the tissue from which it came.

Though it could be argued that this is an overly simplistic view, there is nevertheless a great deal of truth in it.

Successful and productive careers in the healthcare professions are the result of an interconnected

educational process. An understanding of basic science is greatly enhanced by considering

it within an appropriate clinical context, and, conversely, a successful diagnosis requires

an understanding of how disease has altered the structure and function of the normal body.

Recognition of this interconnectedness has been an important consideration in the development

of this book.


A variety of issues have infl uenced the educational playing fi eld in recent years. These include (1) a changing population of basic biomedical instructors, (2) pressures for premedical and medical education curriculum change, and (3) the compelling need to integrate basic science courses with clinical medicine. The latter point is especially important. Even as curricula are being revised, there is a clear expectation that the clinical relevance of basic science information should be emphasized. Clinical correlations, when appropriately integrated, result in a more effective learning experience, which promotes the understanding of the relationships between the normal and the abnormal as well as between the healthy state and the diseased state. Clinical

correlations also facilitate learning clinical concepts and enhance students’ understanding

of basic science information, especially as they relate to their specifi c career objectives.


The goal of Atlas of Histology with Functional and Clinical Correlations is not only to provide a practical and useful source of fundamental information concerning basic histology but also to do so using an innovative approach that shows how tissues can be modifi ed by a pathological process. This integrated approach emphasizes learning both normal structure and how the same tissues would appear in an abnormal state. We believe this approach will provide a bridge for students between knowledge of basic histology and information that will directly contribute to their future understanding of clinical concepts.


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