Preface to the First Edition

Editors: Mills, Stacey E.

Title: Histology for Pathologists, 3rd Edition

Copyright 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

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Preface to the First Edition

Histology textbooks exist in abundance. Some are classics of their kind and have gone through innumerable editions over many years. They have served pathologists well, for the most part, especially in terms of strict tissue and cell histology. There is, however, a borderline between histology and pathology in which information for the pathologist is often lacking.

With this textbook we made an attempt to fill the gap. The significance and function of many histological structures in terms of pathological interpretation is often absent or obscure. In particular, variations of the norm related to such variables as age, sex, and race are often not clarified in conventional textbooks. For example, the chapter on paraganglia notes that the connective tissue between the lobules in the carotid body increases with age. Another example related to age is in the pediatric kidney chapter, where it is noted that the glomeruli of fetuses are disproportionately large and are rarely seen in a state of histological immaturity. While the chapter on the myofibroblast details the location, staining, ultrastructure, and cytoskeletal protein composition of this unusual cell, we also learn of its importance in the desmoplastic reaction in cancerous tissue and, most importantly, that it is not found in carcinomas which are still in situ.

Some gross observations occasionally will be found as lagniappe, such as the notation that in patients with congenital absence of a kidney, the ipsilateral adrenal will be round rather than angulated. Another example would be that there is a crease in the earlobe associated with coronary artery disease.

Variations in staining reactions are considered, such as the failure of factor VIII to stain renal glomerular vessels. One finds that intestinal endocrine cells can be detected with hematoxylin and eosin (sic) stains by the infranuclear location of the granules. Uncommonly known fixation artifacts are uncovered; for example, the prickle-cell layer (with so-called intercellular bridges) is actually a retraction artifact of the plasma membranes with the desmosomes remaining relatively fixed.

In most chapters, prepathological considerations are emphasized, while in others the developed pathological alterations related to the norm represent the major thrust of the chapter.

Some comments will be perceived as gratuitous, such as the remark in the penis chapter to the effect that the prepuce could be a mistake of nature. Furthermore, we learn that the collagen fibers are wavy in the flaccid state and become straight during erection.

The pathology neophyte as well as the many esteemed and experienced pathologists will find helpful information in this book.

Stephen S. Sternberg MD



Histology for Pathologists
Histology for Pathologists
ISBN: 0781762413
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 53

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