Patologjike

Patologjike is an adjective in Albanian that describes phenomena related to disease or abnormal tissue states. The root is patologia (pathology) and the Greek pathos, meaning suffering or disease, combined with the suffix -logjia, meaning study. In medicine, patologia is the scientific discipline examining the causes, mechanisms, and effects of disease on structure and function.

Patologjia covers both anatomical pathology, which analyzes tissues and organs usually from biopsies or autopsies, and clinical pathology, which relies on laboratory tests of blood, urine, and other body fluids to diagnose disease and monitor treatment. Molecular pathology studies genetic and molecular alterations in disease, while histopathology uses microscopic examination of tissue sections.

Pathologists, the specialists in patologie, examine specimens, perform autopsies, and use microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and molecular assays to provide diagnoses, classify diseases, stage tumors, and guide therapy. Pathology is central to cancer diagnosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, and many systemic disorders. A finding is described as pathological when it shows deviation from normal anatomy or physiology, such as necrosis, fibrosis, inflammation, or malignant transformation.

Beyond medicine, patologjike is also used figuratively in Albanian to describe behaviors or traits considered deviant, extreme, or compulsive, for example, a pathological liar.

Patologjike, as an umbrella term, thus spans scientific inquiry into disease and its manifestations, while also entering common language to denote extreme abnormality.