Pathophysiology

Pathophysiology (or physiopathology) is a branch of study, at the intersection of pathology and physiology, concerning disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is the medical discipline that describes conditions typically observed during a disease state, whereas physiology is the biological discipline that describes processes or mechanisms operating within an organism. Pathology describes the abnormal or undesired condition (symptoms of a disease), whereas pathophysiology seeks to explain the functional changes that are occurring within an individual due to a disease or pathologic state.

Etymology

The term pathophysiology comes from the Ancient Greek πάθος (pathos) and φυσιολογία (phisiologia).

History

Early Developments

The origins of pathophysiology as a distinct field date back to the late 18th century. The first known lectures on the subject were delivered by Professor August Friedrich Hecker at the University of Erfurt in 1790, and in 1791, he published the first textbook on pathophysiology, Grundriss der Physiologia pathologica, spanning 770 pages. Hecker also established the first academic journal in the field, Magazin für die pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie, in 1796. The French physician Jean François Fernel had earlier suggested in 1542 that a distinct branch of physiology should study the functions of diseased organisms, an idea further developed by Jean Varandal in 1617, who first coined the term "pathologic physiology" in a medical text.

Nineteenth century

Reductionism

In Germany in the 1830s, Johannes Peter Müller led the establishment of physiology research as autonomous from medical research. In 1843, the Berlin Physical Society was founded in part to purge biology and medicine of vitalism, and in 1847, Hermann von Helmholtz, who joined the Society in 1845, published the paper "On the conservation of energy", highly influential in reducing physiology's research foundation to physical sciences.