Pathophysiology

No doubt, there are many ways to practice "good" medicine, whatever this may be. Forty years ago the history, observation, and clinical examina­ tion of a patient led to diagnosis and therapy. Since then, we have learned a great deal about the biochemical and physiologic processes in the human body and about the pathogenetic mechanisms by which they are disturbed and lead to disease. Today, the basis of clinical judgment and patient management is the understanding of pathogenetic mechanisms of d