Radiology and Pathology

On this rotation, we have regular radiology and pathology rounds. We discuss films in detail with chest radiologists who've written the textbook. Despite taking radiology, this is still really hard for me, mostly because the pulmonologists look at fine nuances in each film and we consider strange diagnoses like hypersensitivity pneumonitis or lymphangiomyomatosis (which I hadn't heard of before this rotation).

More surprisingly for me though was learning of pulmonology's relationship to pathology. Every week, we review biopsy slides, mostly of transplant patients looking for rejection. Histology was always my greatest weakness as a first year med student (I can barely identify granulomas), and it amazes me how some of the seasoned clinicians can pick up on the finest details. Others, however, stare into the microscope and make comments like: "That slice of tissue looks like Yemen."

Both images of emphysema shown under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License, from Wikipedia.