Pathology Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. A cervical biopsy shows atypical epithelial cells with disordered maturation, but the basement membrane remains intact. Which process best describes this finding?
Hyperplasia
Hypertrophy
Dysplasia
Metaplasia
2. A pathologist applies an antibody against cytokeratin to an undifferentiated tumor, and the cells stain strongly. What does this finding most directly support?
The tumor shows epithelial differentiation
The tumor has a specific inherited mutation
The tumor entered the tissue through the bloodstream
The tumor is necessarily benign
3. A patient with advanced liver disease has low serum albumin and generalized edema. Which mechanism most directly explains the edema?
Increased lymphatic drainage
Reduced capillary hydrostatic pressure
Increased plasma oncotic pressure
Decreased plasma oncotic pressure
4. A lung biopsy from a patient with tuberculosis contains organized collections of epithelioid macrophages and multinucleated giant cells. Which inflammatory pattern is present?
Suppurative inflammation
Granulomatous inflammation
Serous inflammation
Fibrinous inflammation
5. A screening test has very high sensitivity. When its result is negative, what is the result generally most useful for?
Determining how common the condition is in the population
Confirming the condition because false positives cannot occur
Helping rule out the condition being screened for
Guaranteeing that a positive result has high predictive value
6. A patient with heart failure develops clear, low-protein pleural fluid without evidence of infection or malignancy. How is this fluid best classified?
Transudate
Exudate
Hematoma
Purulent effusion
7. A skin wound becomes red and swollen several hours after contamination. Which cells usually predominate early in this acute inflammatory response?
Plasma cells
Neutrophils
Eosinophils
Fibroblasts
8. Both functional copies of TP53 are lost in a tumor cell, allowing damaged DNA to pass through a cell-cycle checkpoint. TP53 is acting as which type of gene?
Proto-oncogene
Viral oncogene
Structural collagen gene
Tumor suppressor gene
9. Occlusion of an arterial branch produces a pale, wedge-shaped infarct in the kidney. Which pattern of necrosis is most likely?
Coagulative necrosis
Liquefactive necrosis
Caseous necrosis
Enzymatic fat necrosis
10. During an autopsy, a clot contains alternating pale platelet-fibrin layers and darker red-cell layers known as lines of Zahn. What do these layers indicate?
The clot formed only after death
The finding is an artifact caused by tissue fixation
The thrombus formed in flowing blood before death
The thrombus must have been caused by infection
11. A malignant tumor forms abnormal glands and arises from epithelial tissue. Which term best classifies it?
Adenoma
Fibrosarcoma
Lymphoma
Adenocarcinoma
12. A cell exposed briefly to mild hypoxia becomes swollen because ATP-dependent ion pumps begin to fail. This change is best described as:
Coagulative necrosis
Reversible cellular injury
Apoptotic cell death
Irreversible nuclear fragmentation
13. Which combination constitutes Virchow's triad of factors promoting thrombosis?
Endothelial injury, abnormal blood flow, and hypercoagulability
Stasis, anemia, and thrombocytopenia
Endothelial injury, hypoxia, and vasoconstriction
Vasodilation, fever, and leukocytosis
14. Which finding most directly distinguishes apoptosis from necrosis?
Marked surrounding inflammation caused by released intracellular material
Early rupture of the plasma membrane with leakage of cell contents
Cell shrinkage with formation of membrane-bound apoptotic bodies
Enzymatic digestion affecting a broad region of injured tissue
15. A tissue deposit stains with Congo red and shows apple-green birefringence under polarized light. What is the deposit?
Hemosiderin
Melanin
Lipofuscin
Amyloid
16. A patient with severe vitamin C deficiency has delayed wound healing and a surgical wound begins to reopen. Which impaired process best explains this complication?
Release of histamine from mast cells
Hydroxylation and stable synthesis of collagen
Migration of epithelial cells across the wound surface
Formation of the initial platelet plug