LESION

in physiology, a structural or biochemical change in an organ or tissue produced by disease processes or a wound. The alteration may be associated with particular symptoms of a disease, as when a gastric ulcer produces stomach pain, or it may take place without producing symptoms, as in the early stages of cancer. Certain lesions, such as the genital chancre of syphilis, are diagnostic of a particular disease, and early recognition of the physical or biochemical injury can help to prevent later, more serious manifestations of a disease; thus, the recognition and classification of disease lesions is a major part of pathology. Lesions may be classified as anatomic (evident to the unaided senses), histologic (evident only under a microscope), or biochemical (evident only by chemical analysis). A typical gross anatomic lesion might be the solid tumour of a carcinoma of the colon, while the corresponding histological lesion would be the atypical cells (dysplasia) that precede or surround the gross tumour; and a biochemical lesion associated with the same disease process would be the abnormal carcinoembryonic antigen found in the blood of some colon cancer patients.