Pathology Student

What’s the difference between serum and plasma?

$fractionation$ Q. Quick question for you about serum vs. plasma: I wrote in my notes during class that serum is plasma without the clotting factors. (more…)

A 32-year-old female presents with a microcytic anemia: what’s the diagnosis?

Here’s a practice question on anemia – see if you can get the right answer before scrolling down to the discussion.
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BBG podcast: How to make your presentations awesome!

If you’re a student of pathology, you will at some point be faced with transfusion medicine, and you’ll need to find yourself a good resource for learning the stuff. (more…)

How to study for the Step 1 USMLE, part 3

For the third and final part of our series on how to study for boards (see our first and second installments here), we’ll take a look at advice from students who have taken the boards over the past few years. (more…)

How to study for the Step 1 USMLE, part 2

This is the second in a series of three posts on boards (check out the last one, which covered how to choose resources and set up a study plan). (more…)

How to study for the Step 1 USMLE, part 1

It’s April, which means you’re probably studying for boards. Or maybe you haven’t started studying, but you’ve spent a lot of time worrying about studying, which in my opinion is even more taxing emotionally. (more…)

ABO incompatibility in pregnancy

Q. I was reviewing for boards and had a question about blood types and pregnancy. (more…)

How to figure out which blood type to transfuse into a patient

Here is a good question from one of our readers

Q. Why is blood group O+ not a universal donor?
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Student questions about neoplasia

Neoplasia can be a tough concept at first. You hear people talk about cancer all the time – but when we use the word “neoplasia” in pathology, it has a very specific definition, and it’s not the same thing as cancer. (more…)

What’s necrotic in fibrinoid necrosis?

We’ve talked here before about the 6 types of necrosis. One type, fibrinoid necrosis, is sort of an outlier – it’s added at the end of the list of main types of necrosis as if it doesn’t quite belong in the list (Robbins calls it a “special” type of necrosis). (more…)