Libre Pathology

Virchows Liste is a wiki to collect all things pathology for pathologists and pathologists-in-training.

Motto

"Love the truth, seek to know it and spread it."

This is adapted from a famous surgeon eulogized by Haggard, that is known to have had on his desk a sign that read "He loved the truth and sought to know it."

Philosophy

Jimmy Wales said it well when describing Wikipedia:

"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge."

Nothing of the sort exists for pathology. Many of the top journals are pay-per-view. This site is here to address this.

Second, few pathology textbooks are any good. Most are laden with dense text and impractical when looking down the microscope. The philosophy is all wrong -- the emphasis is on making dense text. Coming from engineering, where it is said textbook writers are paid by the figure and table, the people writing pathology textbooks, by and large, have it backward. The philosophy here is deliver the goods straight and give a differential. Tables are considered highly desirable and decision trees useful. Dense text is a weakness.

The task taken up here is no small one and it is challenging as pathologists not only often disagree on whether a certain feature is present, but also on whether it is even relevant to the diagnosis! Psychiatrists, in this respect, have to be envied, they at least agree on the criteria. With things as they are, it is shocking to think that the gold standard in medicine is build on this - foundation of shifting sand.

Hardware

• Mac Mini.

Software

• Mediawiki.
• PHP.
• Debian GNU/Linux.

See also

• Main Page.
• Virchowsliste:Copyrights.

External links

• Debian.org.
• Mediawiki.org.