PA (ASCP) Certification Exam QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH SOLUTIONS 2024/25 EDITION GUARANTEED GRADE A+

PA (ASCP) Certification Exam QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH SOLUTIONS 2024/25 EDITION GUARANTEED GRADE A+ Hypertrophy Increased cell and organ size, often in response to increased workload: induced by mechanical stress and by growth factors; occurs in tissue incapable of cell division Hyperplasia Increased cell numbers in response to hormones and other growth factors; occurs in tissues whose cells are able to divide Atrophy Decreased cell and organ size, as a result of decreased nutrient supply or disuse: associated with decreased synthesis and increased proteolytic breakdown of cellular organelles Metaplasia Change in phenotype of differentiated cells, often a response to chronic irritation that makes cells better able to withstand the stress Hypoxia Oxygen deficiency which interferes with aerobic oxidative respirations and is an extremely important and common cause of cell injury and death Ischemic Loss of blood supply in a tissue due to impeded arterial flow or reduced venous drainage Coagulative necrosis A form of tissue necrosis in which the component cells are dead but the basic tissue architecture is preserved for at least several days Liquefactive necrosis A form of necrosis seen in focal bacterial or occasionally fungal infections because microbes stimulate the accumulation of inflammatory cells and the enzymes of leukocytes digest the tissue Caseous necrosis A form of necrosis encountered most often in foci of tuberculous infections Fat necrosis Term referring to focal areas of fat destruction, typically resulting from release of activated pancreatic lipases into the peritoneal cavity Fibrinous necrosis A special form of necrosis usually seen in immune reactions involving blood vessels Autophagy Lysosomal digestion of the cell's own components Apoptosis A pathway of cell death that is induced by a tightly regulated suicide program in which the cells destined to die activate enzymes capable of degrading the cells own nuclear DNA Steatosis (fatty change) Refers to any abnormal accumulation of triglycerides within parenchymal cells It is most often seen in the liver Dystrophic calcification Depositions of calcium at sites of cell injury and necrosis Metastatic calcification Deposition of calcium in normal tissues, caused by hypercalcemia (usually a consequence of parathyroid hormone excess) Inflammation A protective response intended to eliminate the initial cause of cell injury as well as the necrotic cells and tissues resulting from the original insult Acute inflammation A rapid response to injury or microbes and other foreign substance that is designed to deliver leukocytes and plasma proteins to sites of injury Serous inflammation Fluid in a serous cavity Serous inflammation is marked by fluid transudates, reflecting moderately increased vascular permeability. Such accumulations in the peritoneal, pleural, and pericardial cavities are called effusions; Effusion Fluid in a serous cavity , Fibrinous inflammation Inflammation occurring as a consequence of more severe injuries, resulting in greater vascular permeability that allows large molecules (such as fibrinogen) to pass the endothelial barrier Abscess Focal collections of pus that may be caused by seeding of pyogenic organisms into a tissue or by secondary infections of necrotic foci Ulcer A local defect or excavation of the surface of an organ or tissue that is produced by necrosis of cells and sloughing of inflammatory necrotic tissue Cytokines Polypeptide products of many cell types that function as mediators of inflammation and immune responses Chronic inflammation Prolonged inflammation in which active inflammation, tissue injury, and healing proceed simultaneously Granulomatous inflammation A distinctive pattern of chronic inflammation characterized by aggregates of activated macrophages that assume an epithelioid appearance Repair The restoration of tissue architecture and function after an injury Regeneration The process of replacing damaged tissue components and essentially returning to a normal state Fibrosis The extensive deposition of collagen that occurs in the lungs, liver, kidney and other organs as a consequence of chronic inflammation Angiogenesis A critical process in healing at sites of ischemia where a preexisting vessel sends out capillary sprouts to produce new vessels Keloid A prominent raised scar caused by the accumulation of exuberant amounts of collagen Edema Significant increased fluid in the interstitial tissue spaces Anasarca Severe and generalized edema with profound subcutaneous tissue swelling Hyperemia A local increase in blood volume that is an active process from augmented blood flow due to arteriolar dilation Congestion A local increase in blood volume that is a passive process resulting from impaired venous return out of a tissue Hematoma The accumulation of blood confined within a tissue after a hemorrhage Normal hemostasis A tightly regulated process that maintains blood in a fluid, clot-free state in normal vessels while inducing the rapid formation of a localized hemostatic plug at the site of vascular injury Thrombosis Blood clot (thrombus) formation in uninjured vessels or thrombotic occlusion of a vessel after relatively minor injury Lines of Zahn The grossly and microscopically apparent lamination in a thrombi representing pale platelet and fibrin layers alternating with darker erythrocyte-rich layers Embolism A detached intravascular solid, liquid, or gaseous mass that is carried by the blood to a site distant from its point of origin Infarct An area of ischemic necrosis caused by occlusion of either the arterial supply or the venous drainage in a particular tissue Shock The final common pathway for a number of potentially lethal events that causes systemic hypoperfusion due to either reduced cardiac output or reduced circulating blood volume Systemic Lupus Erythematous A multisystem autoimmune remitting and relapsing disease that primarily affects the skin, kidneys, serosal membranes joints and heart Rheumatoid Arthritis A systemic, chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting many tissues but principally attacking the joints to produce a nonsuppurative synovitis. Progresses to joint destruction and ankylosis; blood vessels, skin, heart, lungs, and muscles can also be impacted. Small joints affected first, radial deviation of the wrist, ulnar deviation of the fingers, and flexion-hyperextension abnormalities of the digits. The deformed joints lose stability and have minimal range of motion. 20-50 y/o females Sjögren Syndrome An inflammatory disease that affects primarily the salivary and lacrimal glands causing dryness of the mouth and eyes Systemic Sclerosis Commonly called scleroderma and characterized by progressive fibrosis involving the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and other tissues Differentiation The extent to which tumor cells resemble their normal forebears morphologically and functionally Anaplasia Literally means "to form backward" and implies dedifferentiation, or loss of the structural and functional differentiation of normal cells Dysplasia A loss in the uniformity of individual cells and in their architectural orientation Metastasis The development of secondary tumor implants discontinuous with the primary tumor in remote tissues Paraneoplastic Syndrome Symptom complexes that occur in patients with cancer and that cannot be readily explained by local of distant spread of the tumor or by the elaboration of hormones indigenous to the tissue of origin Cachexia Progressive loss of body fat and lean body mass, accompanies by profound weakness, anorexia and anemia caused by release of cytokines by a tumor Phenylketonuria An autosomal recessive disorder caused by a lack of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase and consequent inability to metabolize phenylalanine impaired brain development, mental retardation, seizures, decreased pigmentation, eczema Tay-Sachs Disease Lysosomal storage disease cause by an inability to metabolize GM gangliosides due to lack of lysosomal hexosaminidase Niemann-Pick Disease Lysosomal storage diseases cause by a deficiency of sphingomyelinase Trisomy 21 Down Syndrome - the most common of the chromosomal disorders Klinefelter Syndrome Male hypogonadism that develops when there are at least two X chromosomes and one or more Y chromosomes Turner Syndrome Primary hypogonadism in phenotypic females, results from partial or complete monosomy of the short arm of the X chromosome Malformation Primary errors of morphogenesis -- an intrinsically abnormal developmental process Deformation Represent an extrinsic disturbance of development rather than an intrinsic error of morphogenesis Sequence Multiple congenital anomalies that result from secondary effects of a single localized aberration in organogenesis Potter Sequence Oligohydramnios denoting decreased amniotic fluid causing a classic phenotype in the newborn infant including flattened face, positional abnormalities of the hands and feet, and chest compression with lung hypoplasia. can occur through a variety of mechanisms: renal agenesis (fetal urine is a major component of amniotic fluid), placental insufficiency due to maternal hypertension, or an amniotic leak. Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome "Hyaline membrane disease" A disease of prematurity primarily caused by insufficient pulmonary surfactant Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) The sudden death of an infant under year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation including performance of a complete autopsy, examinations of the death scene and review of the clinical history Immune Hydrops Results from an antibody-induced hemolytic disease in the newborn that is caused by blood group incompatibility between mother and fetus Cystic Fibrosis A widespread disorder of epithelial transport affecting fluid secretion in exocrine glands and the epithelial lining of the respiratory, gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts Retinoblastoma The most common malignant eye tumor of childhood Wilms' Tumor The most common primary tumor of the kidney in children Contusion A bruise usually produced by a blunt object and characterized by damage to blood vessels and extravasation of blood into tissues Laceration A tear or disruptive stretching of tissue caused by the application of force by a blunt object Marasmus Emaciation resulting from loss of muscle mass and fat with relative preservation of serum albumin It is caused by diets severely lacking in calories Kwashiorkor Characterized by hypoalbuminemia, generalized edema, fatty liver, skin changes and defects in immunity It is caused by diets low in proteins but normal in calories Rickets Bone disease in children caused by Vitamin D deficiency Osteomalacia Bone disease in adults caused by Vitamin D deficiency Trichomonas Vaginalis A sexually transmitted protozoan that can colonize the vagina and male urethra Endothelial cell A single-cell-thick continuous sheet of cells that lines the entire vascular system and is critical for maintaining vessel wall homeostasis can circulatory function Arteriovenous fistula Abnormal, typically small, direct connections between arteries and veins that bypass the intervening capillaries Arteriosclerosis Literally means "hardening of the arteries" A generic term reflecting arterial wall thickening and loss of elasticity Arteriolosclerosis A pattern of arteriosclerosis that affects small arteries and arterioles and is most often associated with hypertensions and/or diabetes Mönckeberg medial calcific sclerosis A pattern of arteriosclerosis characterized by calcific deposits in muscular arteries typically in persons older than Atherosclerosis The most frequent and clinically important pattern of arteriosclerosis characterized by intimal lesions called atheromas Essential hypertension Represents % to % of cases of hypertensions and is a complex, multifactorial disorder Aneurysm (true) A localized abnormal dilation of a blood vessel or the heart which involves all three layers of the arterial wall (intima, media, and adventitia) or the attenuated wall of the heart False aneurysm A breach in the vascular wall leading to an extravascular hematoma that freely communicates with the intravascular space Aortic dissection A catastrophic event whereby blood splays apart the laminar planes of the media to form a blood-filled channel within the aortic wall Giant-cell (temporal) arteritis The most common of the vasculitides A chronic, typically granulomatous inflammation of large to small-sized arteries; it principally affects the arteries in the head Polyarteritis Nodosa A systemic necrotizing vasculitis of small or medium-sized muscular arteries typically involving renal and visceral vessels but sparing the pulmonary circulation. Fibrinoid necrosis (hyaline) of vessels. Young adults with hematuria, albuminuria, hypertension Kawasaki disease An acute febrile usually self-limited illness of infancy and childhood associated with an arteritis affecting large to medium-sized and even small vessels It can cause aneurysms that involve the coronary arteries Buerger disease AKA Thromboangiitis obliterans is a distinctive disease that often leads to vascular insufficiency which is characterized by segmental, thrombosing acute and chronic inflammation of medium- sized and small arteries heavy cigarette smokers 35 years old Nodular phlebitis, Raynaud-like cold sensitivity, and leg claudication. The vascular insufficiency can lead to excruciating pain (even at rest, suggesting neural involvement), skin ulcers, and ultimately gangrene. Raynaud Phenomenon An exaggerated vasoconstriction of digital arteries and arterioles which induce paroxysmal pallor of cyanosis of the digits of the hands of feet Varicose veins Abnormally dilated, tortuous veins produced by prolonged increase in intraluminal pressure Hemangioma Very common tumors characterized by increased numbers of normal or abnormal vessels filled with blood Angiosarcoma Malignant endothelial neoplasms with histology varying from highly differentiated tumors that resemble hemangiomas to anaplastic lesions difficult to distinguish from carcinomas or melanomas Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) Incomplete closure of the ventricular septum allowing left-to-right shunting The most common congenital cardiac anomaly at birth Tetralogy of Fallot The most common cause of cyanotic congenital heart disease VSD, obstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract, an aorta that overrides the VSD, and right ventricular hypertrophy Aortic Coarctation Narrowing or constriction of the aorta (e.x. present in Turner's Syndrome cases) Ischemic heart disease A generic designation for a group of related syndromes resulting from myocardial ischemia- an imbalance between cardiac blood supply and myocardial oxygen demand Myocardial infarction Popularly called heart attack -- necrosis of heart muscle resulting from ischemia Chronic ischemic heart disease Also called ischemic cardiomyopathy Essentially progressive heart failure as a consequence of ischemic myocardial damage Cor Pulmonale Right ventricular hypertrophy and dilation due to pulmonary hypertension caused by primary disorders of the lung parenchyma Aschoff Bodies Discrete inflammatory lesions found within the heart during acute rheumatic fever Libman-Sacks endocarditis Sterile vegetations that can develop on the valves of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus Dilated cardiomyopathy CONTINUED...