Virchow's Contribution to the Understanding of Thrombosis and Cellular Biology

Few physician-scientists have contributed as much to the fundamental understanding of the pathophysiology of cellular biology as Rudolf Virchow. His contribution to the cellular biomedicine paradigm along with the germ theory of Pasteur and Koch formed the basis for many of the medical advances of the twentieth century. 1 He was one of the first physicians to examine disease at the cellular level, arguing that the origin of disease was caused by cellular pathology. One area that he studied extensively, and in which he has left lasting contributions to modern medicine, was in the area of thrombosis, specifically venothromboembolism (VTE). For much of the later half of the twentieth century, the so-called Virchow's Triad has formed the basis for understanding the pathogenesis of VTE and is still widely used to assess VTE risk.