Virchow's “Cellular Pathology” 150 years later

Abstract

e b f d v ( c w p v In 1858, Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902) gave twenty ost-graduate lectures on Pathology at the University of erlin and published the transcripts as “Cellular Pathology s Based upon Physiological and Pathological Histology” in he same year. The book was an immediate success, and ased on it and other work, Virchow ultimately became nown as a ‘Father of Pathology’. However, some aspects f “Cellular Pathology” are now not well understood, and here is some confusion about its real significance for medcine. This article focuses on the chaotic state of medical heory—including anti-contagionism—when Virchow was oung; the development of his ideas leading up to “Cellular athology”; the content of the book itself and some later riticisms of Virchow. The overall theory in “Cellular Pahology” is summarized as one of “irritation of pre-existing onnective tissue cells so that they produce pathological cell ypes locally by ‘histological substitutions’; and sometimes roduce ‘juices’ which spread to distant connective tissue ells to convert them to similar pathological cells all steps eing only alterations of normal cell physiological proesses”. While many components of this overall hypothesis re incorrect, it can be recognized that through “Cellular athology,” Virchow delivered theory in Medicine from haos by bringing the behaviour of the cells to the forefront. hus Virchow gave Pathology a scientific basis worthy of ts name.