PATHOPHYSIOLOGY TRANSFORMS INTO SYSTEMIC PATHOBIOLOGY BEING AN INTRODUCTIVE COURSE OF TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE

Leonid P．CHURILOV

(Department of Pathology，School of Medicine，St．Petersburg State University，Saint Petersburg，Russia)

Pathophysiology，as a science and curriculum discipline，stands in front of the biggest challenge of its history．It extended far beyond the limits of its historical name and embedded aspects of pathochemistry，immunopathology，pathobiophysics and pathoinformatics，intermingling with translational medicine．Tteaching and learning of pathophysiology should be modernized in accordance with the needs of nowadays，under the bias of its integrative role for medicine，analogous to that of systems biology among non-medical life sciences．Current pathophysiology grew into clinics(via laboratory and functional diagnostic tests，which are controlled clinical experiments)．Thus，physicians of functional diagnosis，clinical immunology and biochemistry services，are in fact close to pathophysiologists．Every diagnostician has to compose a conceptual model of disease in order to explain and combine data for comprehension of a case．However，such modeling is inherent to pathophysiology;hence competence of diagnostician is based on it．Holistic approach to patient，disease and education is traditional for Russian medicine．In our department，classical lab experiments are joint to early start of Clinical Pathology(5th term)，combined to case history analysis and lectures co-delivered by pathophysiologist and clinician with patient demonstrations．In our teaching posters，pathophysiological，pathomorphological，clinical and historical data are fused．Local net of digital television microscopes gives instant video archive of experimental results added to student＇s protocols of lab studies．Hence，we collected considerable experience in interdisciplinary project-oriented learning and interpret the role of modern pathophysiology as bridging scientific and clinical modes of reasoning and establishing common thesau rus for multiplying branches of medicine．