Alteration
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
This 1930s encyclopedia article defines alteration as a term for tissue damage caused by various agents, primarily encompassing degenerative and necrobiotic changes in organ parenchyma and vessel walls. It notes that alteration is an essential component of inflammation, while parenchymal changes were historically viewed as parenchymal inflammation though modern authors consider them degenerative.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
ALTERATION, alterative (from Latin alterare - to change), a term to designate tissue damage by one agent or another; mainly referring to a group of degenerative-necrobiotic changes in the parenchyma of organs, vascular walls, etc. Alteration, as an obligatory moment, enters into the picture of inflammation (see), and sometimes predominates in it. Alterative changes in parenchymal organs (kidneys, liver, heart) were previously regarded as their parenchymal inflammation; most modern authors classify these processes as degenerative manifestations.
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“Alteration.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/alteration/