Alex Ashley, University of Warwick

My favourite tutor, a pathologist, had long insisted that every medical student should own their own copy of this book. For a long while the cost was prohibitive - that's beer money after all It was after a session at the hospital when one of the senior clinicians referred to a clearly well-loved previous edition, old, tatty and patched up with parcel tape, that my mind was changed. More of a reference than a sit-down read due to its size - it's a comprehensive source of information for every disease you're likely to encounter during your time at medical school (and beyond!), complete with the entire disease process and loads of illustrations. Thankfully StudentConsult access is included which means that as long as you have access to the internet, you always have a copy with you. That's been quite handy during group work/PBL sessions while everyone else is frantically trying to bring up Wikipedia on their iPhones. It's not a cheap book, but in my opinion well worth the investment!

Posted 10th Nov 2011

Edward Huang, University of Birmingham

I came across this book when I was preparing for my third year exam and I said to myself “This can be helpful for my pathology revision.” Hence, I requested to review the book. Few days later, a whooping hardcover-1450-page-book arrived at my door step. Before I go any further, rest assured that this book available under student consult, so incase you need to travel and need to study pathology, you don’t need to carry the heavy book with you. As geeky as it sounds, I enjoyed reading the book, it is thorough , detailed and full of pictures, which is great for pathology. It is also up to date (from what I have perceived) with its information. It has become one of my top sources to consult when I need to research a disease, whether it is for pathology or clinical purposes, it aided my understanding in what I’m searching for. It is also great for presentations, as mentioned, it has plenty of pictures which you can obtain from student consult (remember to reference it) and is a great source to put down in the reference too. The text layout are also clear, easy to read, accompanied by clear tables of content. The sentences are not wordy and mean what they mean, unlike some textbooks which can be rather convoluted. The depth is also well grasped, aimed at medical student and equips students with what they should know. On the aspect of revision, it may be a bit heavy for last minute cramming and some say it’s brother “Review of Pathology” may be more appropriate for that. Unfortunately I could not validate such information as I was too engrossed in this book. In conclusion, I am glad that I have come across this book, and I will recommend students to go to the library and check it out.

Posted 26th Oct 2011

Joseph Fitchett, Imperial College, London

Pathologic Basis of Disease is a classic for all medical students and I think is much more useful than other clinical medicine textbooks like Kumar and Clark, which do not go into enough detail. This deserves a place on every medical student shelf and should not be restricted to the later years. It is incredibly comprehensive, plenty of detail, images and figures. Perhaps the only downside is it's length (nearly 1,500 pages) and is best used as a reference book to complement reading throughout the year rather than revision. Content is thorough, readability is great, definitely recommend to a friend.

Posted 14th Oct 2011

Donncha Mullin, University of Glasgow

The authority on pathology, at over 1400 pages, this book contains all the detail you could ever want as a medical student or Junior doctor and will also cover the needs of students with a special interest in pathology. Due to its high level of detail however, I would recommend this book for third year and above medical students as others may find themselves getting bogged down by all the cytokines etc while trying to gain a general overview of common conditions. Although it is well-illustrated with histological slides and diagrams/photographs of pathological specimens, it would be more useful to a medical student if it had extra figures to help explain the pathogenesis of diseases. As it is an American textbook there is a slightly different emphasis on certain diseases compared to UK pathology books. For example, there is extensive information on sickle-cell anaemia and the thalassaemias relative to the other anaemias that are more common in the UK. The book is separated into General Pathology (with info on all you would expect: cellular response to injury, inflammation, tissue repair, genetic disorders, neoplasia etc) and Systemic Pathology. It is important to note that there is no information on the pathology/pathogenesis of psychiatric conditions although dementia is covered. The online access via student consult is brilliant. It contains the full text of the book and diagrams (if you make your own notes for PBL or whatever you’ll be glad to know that copy and paste is possible) as well as extras like multiple choice questions. Having voiced my minor criticisms, I want to make clear that this is the pathology book I refer to when others (eg Porth and Matfin; Underwood) fail to deliver on detail and it is, in my opinion, the most reliable reference. It is recommended on Glasgow’s book list to buy either this or Underwood’s General and Systematic Pathology.

Posted 3rd May 2011

jing-yee hung, King's College London

Internationally renowned as the ‘bible’ for pathology, the long awaited 8th edition in hardback is now available. Alongside your core clinical medicine textbook, this is the essential ‘must have’ textbook for all medical students. This core text portrays all the diseases and disorders that medical students are taught to keep a high index of suspicion for. It illustrates the changes that occur from cellular level to what you would classically find in a patient presenting to the health care services at end stage disease. This textbook is essential to the fundamental understanding how and what causes assaults on the body, and why it produces such systemic signs. Although the textbook is daunting at first sight due to its size- on opening its glossy cover, it is a textbook that is well presented, full of colour and accessible to all. This book is divided into two parts: general pathology and systemic pathology whereby diseases are classified by organ systems. Every chapter divides topics into bite sized paragraphs which are easy to read and uniquely start from the basics whilst clarify all terminology. The information is up to date and well referenced, accompanied with tables, spider diagrams and photographic examples of dissection specimens, histology slides, radiology and images of what would be seen on live patients who are affected by the diseases. This book is excellent for all students learning about pathology, regardless of the level. It is timeless, as pathology does not change. The online access is excellent, allowing students to download full- colour images and is accompanied by multiple choice questions to test your knowledge. This is one of the few books that all student will keep from the first year of medicals school till retirement!

Posted 16th Apr 2011

James O'Brien, University of East Anglia

The 8th edition of pathological basis of disease is by far the best pathology book that I have used. The first 10 chapters of the book give an excellent background to a variety of physiological responses which are key to understanding the pathological basis of disease. These background chapters cover everything that one would expect from a pathology book, from acute & chronic inflammation, a basic introduction to genetic disease to tissue renewal, repair and regeneration. The book then covers the pathology of a wide variety of diseases on a systems basis. Each chapter starts with a basic introduction to the normal physiology and function of the necessary organs, with excellent diagrams to back up the detailed yet easy to understand text. To accompany the diagram and text, there are a number of images providing examples of the different pathologies; finally the book provides histological images of the disease process. In conclusion this book goes into a good level of detail, which allows the reader to gain a level of understanding that is required to understand the pathological basis of disease. This is accompanied with multiple images, either in the form of diagrams, pictures or histology slides. All in all, an excellent buy.

Posted 23rd Mar 2011

Bernard Ho, St George's, University of London

I HIGHLY recommend this book for those that are really keen to do outside reading. This book can answer any burning questions that some medical students have that even Wikipedia couldn't answer. I use this book alongside with Kumar and Clark for PBLs because of the detail that our group goes into and this book is definitely an 'one-stop' book for that.

Posted 14th Jan 2011

David Terstad, Uppsala University

I found a lot to like about this book. Thirst of all it’s very easy to find what you’re looking for and when you find it it’s thoroughly explained. The authors have also succeeded to combine this vast amount of information with an “easy to overview” layout so that you won’t go lost wondering what you’re actually reading about (as I’ve experienced is often the case with very extensive literature). Both the section of general pathology and the section of systemic pathology (with a chapter for each organ/organ system) have a lot of useful pictures and tables. I think these features makes this book perfect not only for thoroughly understanding the basis of pathology, but also for looking up specific conditions. For me this book will come to good use for many years to come!

Posted 25th Jan 2010