Pathology High-Yield Topics for NEET PG 2026

TIER 1 - Ultra High Yield (Study These First)

1. General Pathology - Cell Injury & Death (6-8 questions)

• Necrosis vs Apoptosis - types, mechanisms, morphology (coagulative, liquefactive, caseous, fat, fibrinoid, gangrenous)
• Reversible vs irreversible cell injury - hallmarks, ultrastructural changes
• Free radical injury - sources, neutralization
• Cellular adaptations - hypertrophy, hyperplasia, atrophy, metaplasia, dysplasia
• Amyloidosis - AL vs AA, Congo red stain, apple-green birefringence under polarized light (very frequently tested)

2. Inflammation (very frequently tested)

• Chemical mediators - histamine, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, complement, cytokines
• Acute vs chronic inflammation - cell types, morphology
• Granulomatous inflammation - TB (caseating), sarcoidosis (non-caseating), leprosy, fungal, foreign body - differences are a classic question type
• Wound healing - primary vs secondary intention, factors affecting healing

3. Neoplasia - The SINGLE Highest-Yield Chapter (8-12 questions)

• Benign vs malignant - grading vs staging (very commonly tested)
• Tumor markers - must memorize all of these:
  • AFP - hepatocellular carcinoma, yolk sac tumor
  • PSA - prostate
  • CEA - colon, GIT
  • CA-125 - ovary
  • CA 19-9 - pancreas
  • hCG - choriocarcinoma
  • S-100 - melanoma, neural tumors
  • Desmin - rhabdomyosarcoma
  • HER2/neu - breast cancer
  • CD20 - B-cell lymphomas
  • CD3 - T-cell lymphomas
• Oncogenes & tumor suppressor genes - RAS, MYC, BCR-ABL, TP53, RB1, BRCA1/2
• Carcinogenesis - chemical, radiation, viral (HPV, EBV, HBV associations)
• Paraneoplastic syndromes
• Metastasis routes

4. Hemodynamic Disorders

• Thrombosis (Virchow's triad), embolism types, infarction
• Shock - types, morphology
• Edema - transudate vs exudate

TIER 2 - High Yield (Study Second)

5. Hematology (3-5 questions)

• Anemias - iron deficiency vs megaloblastic vs hemolytic - key differences in peripheral smear, lab values
• Leukemias - ALL vs AML (Auer rods in AML), CML (Philadelphia chromosome t(9;22), BCR-ABL), CLL
• Lymphomas - Hodgkin (Reed-Sternberg cells, types by WHO) vs Non-Hodgkin; Burkitt lymphoma (t(8;14), starry sky pattern)
• Multiple myeloma - Bence Jones protein, rouleaux formation, M-spike
• Bleeding disorders - hemophilia, ITP, DIC
• Sickle cell, thalassemia - molecular basis

6. Cardiovascular Pathology (4-5 questions)

• MI timeline - the most tested CVS topic:

• Rheumatic heart disease - Aschoff bodies, Anitschkow cells, Jones criteria
• Infective endocarditis - vegetations comparison (acute vs subacute)
• Atherosclerosis - pathogenesis, foam cells
• Hypertensive heart disease

7. Immunopathology (2-3 questions)

• Hypersensitivity reactions - Types I-IV with classic examples:
  • Type I (IgE, mast cells) - anaphylaxis, asthma
  • Type II (cytotoxic) - hemolytic anemia, Goodpasture
  • Type III (immune complex) - SLE, serum sickness, post-streptococcal GN
  • Type IV (cell-mediated) - TB, contact dermatitis, graft rejection
• Autoimmune diseases - SLE (anti-dsDNA, anti-Smith), RA (anti-CCP, RF), Sjogren (anti-Ro/La)
• Transplant rejection types

8. Renal Pathology (1-3 questions)

• Nephrotic vs nephritic syndromes - causes, histopathology
  • Minimal change disease (MCD) - most common nephrotic in children, effacement of foot processes on EM
  • Membranous nephropathy - spike and dome pattern
  • FSGS - segmental sclerosis
  • IgA nephropathy - mesangial IgA deposits
  • Post-streptococcal GN - subepithelial humps
  • RPGN - crescents (anti-GBM = Goodpasture)
• Renal cell carcinoma - clear cell most common, von Hippel-Lindau

TIER 3 - Moderate Yield

9. Respiratory Pathology

• Lung carcinoma - squamous cell (central, keratin pearls), adenocarcinoma (peripheral, TTF-1+), small cell (neuroendocrine, paraneoplastic syndromes)
• Pneumonia - lobar vs bronchopneumonia - stages
• Restrictive vs obstructive lung disease - COPD, emphysema types (centriacinar vs panacinar)
• Mesothelioma - asbestos association, ferruginous bodies

10. GIT Pathology

• UC vs Crohn's disease - classic comparison (crypt abscesses vs granulomas, continuous vs skip lesions, pseudopolyps vs cobblestone)
• Gastric carcinoma - intestinal type (H. pylori) vs diffuse type (signet ring cells)
• Colorectal carcinoma - FAP, Lynch syndrome (HNPCC), APC gene
• Esophageal carcinoma - squamous (upper 2/3) vs adenocarcinoma (lower 1/3, Barrett's)

11. Liver Pathology

• Cirrhosis - causes, morphology (micronodular vs macronodular)
• Hepatitis - viral markers (HBsAg, anti-HBc IgM, etc.)
• Hepatocellular carcinoma - AFP, HBV/HCV association
• Wilson disease (copper), Hemochromatosis (iron), Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency

12. Endocrine Pathology

• Thyroid - papillary (Orphan Annie nuclei, psammoma bodies), follicular, medullary (calcitonin, MEN 2), anaplastic
• Adrenal - pheochromocytoma (rule of 10s), neuroblastoma (N-MYC)
• MEN syndromes (MEN1, MEN2A, MEN2B)

13. Female Genital Tract

• Cervical carcinoma - HPV 16/18, CIN grading, Pap smear
• Ovarian tumors - serous (most common), mucinous, endometrioid, germ cell (dysgerminoma, yolk sac)
• Breast carcinoma - invasive ductal (most common), lobular, DCIS vs LCIS; ER/PR/HER2 status

Key High-Yield One-Liners to Memorize

Exam Strategy Tips

1. Practice image-based MCQs - NEET PG now heavily tests histopathology images (H&E slides, EM images)
2. PYQs are essential - ~10-15 questions repeat yearly in modified form; solve at least 10 years of papers
3. Integrated questions - Expect pathology combined with medicine/pharmacology in clinical vignettes
4. Robbins is the gold standard textbook; focus on tables and summary boxes
5. High-frequency stains to know: H&E, PAS, Masson's trichrome, Congo red, Perl's Prussian blue (iron), Oil red O (fat), ZN stain (TB)