Describing Pathological Findings

A morphologic diagnosis includes the following:

Severity, time, distribution, anatomic site and lesion

Example - Severe acute multifocal renal infarct

Severity
Mild	Moderate	Severe
Time
Peracute Sudden death with APP	Acute Pig with Erysipelas	Chronic Rectal stricture
Distribution
Bilateral Renal hyoplasia	Diffuse Greasy Pig Disease	Focal Melanoma of the skin
Multifocal PDNS	Patchy Mange along the dorsum	Unilateral Flank biting
Anatomic site – which organ is affected
Lesion description – pathological description

Lesion can then be characterised using the following descriptive terms
Colour - describe what you see – do not use food analogies
1 2 3 4		Variety of urine colours – left to right 1. Normal 1 2. Normal 2 3. Cystitis 4. Pyelonephritis
Size – be accurate – use a ruler
Shape
Botryoid – shaped like grapes Endocardiosis	Circular – flat Ringworm		Irregular Pityriasis rosea
Oblong Tearing of the ureterovesical junction	Ovoid Congenital swine pox lesions		Polypoid – polyp like Skin tumor
Reniform – shaped like a kidney	Spheroid Cystic ovaries		Wedge-shaped Pyelonephritis

Surface changes
Bulging Lymphosarcoma in the rib cage	Cobblestoned Stomach with bowel oedema	Corrugated In ileitis
Crusted Necrotic ileitis	Eroded – skin only Carpal erosions in piglet	Granular Borrelia granuloma
Pitted Surface in an end-stage kidney	Rough Chronic mastitis in a sow	Smooth Leiomyoma of the uterus
Striated Mulberry Heart Disease	Ulcerated Gastric ulceration	Umbilicated Oesophageal stricture
Verrucous Nasal tumour
Margins of the lesion
Indistinct Salmonella choleraesuis in the lung	Infiltrative Thymic tumour	Papillary Scrotal papillomatosis
Pedunculated Chronic mastitis	Serpinginous – wavy Purulent dermatitis	Serrated Embryonic folding - kidney
Sessile – broad base attachment Skin tumour	Villous – finger like Pericarditis	Well-demarcated Mycoplasma pneumonia
Consistency – be precise
Hard Skull of peccary – note teeth	Firm Normal feacal pellet	Soft Colitis feaces
Caseous Streptococci abscess	Fluid Fluid filled abscess	Friable Clostridial hepatopathy
Gritty Urinary calculi	Leathery Chronic mange	Resilient The normal nose
Rubbery PRRSv in lungs	Spongy Udder oedema	Viscous Shoulder abscess