Pathology Student

How do antinuclear antibodies cause problems in lupus?

Okay, so we know that antinuclear antibodies are seen in many different autoimmune diseases (including lupus). (more…)

Fluorescent antinuclear antibody (FANA) testing

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem, autoimmune disease. (more…)

Parvovirus infection in pregnancy

Q. While doing some reproductive medicine practice questions in a boards question bank I came across one I couldn’t reason through and was hoping you could help: (more…)

Questions from a patient with myeloma

Q. I have myeloma and have relapsed after a stem cell transplant.

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25 year-old male with rapidly-growing forearm mass

A 25 year-old male presents with a mass on the volar aspect of his forearm. He first noticed the lesion 2 weeks ago, when he developed pain in his arm, and since then it has grown rapidly to reach its current size of approximately 5 cm. (more…)

What’s the difference between FDPs and D-dimers?

Q. What is the difference between FDPs and D-dimers? (more…)

A 38 year-old male with AIDS and severe headache

A 38 year-old male with advanced AIDS presents with severe headaches, fever and altered mental status, and dies several days later. An autopsy is performed, and a coronal section of the brain is shown here.
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Dystrophic vs. metastatic calcification

Maybe I missed that pathology lecture, or maybe I was sleeping when the terms were discussed. (more…)

A 13 year-old male with a cerebellar mass

A 13 year-old male presents with a cerebellar mass. A biopsy is performed, and a representative section is shown here. (more…)

Splenectomy in sickle cell disease

Q. This may be a silly question but…On the topic of anemia and increased RBC destruction, the lecture notes state that the spleen removes unusual shaped RBCs, causing anemia. (more…)