Best Histology and Pathology books For Medical Students, Residents, and Fellows

Whether you are a medical student, Resident, or Fellow. Having an understanding of basic histology can come in handy as being able to understand and interpret histological sections can aid in diagnosis. With so much resources out there how do you know which can adequately prepare you for interpreting histological slides. In this article I will be going over the best books for histology and pathology.

Atlas of Histology

This is a comprehensive Histology Atlas with over 1000 illustrations. Additional features includes things such as clear explanation boxes, clinical correlations, figure legends, summary tables, as well as an appendix which provides information on how to carry out important staining techniques.

HIstology from clinical perspective

This is a histology text which applies for USMLE exam board prep as well as basic in class science topics. The text does a good job of offering complete explanations, all of the pathologic images include figure legends, and the book also comes with flashcards which is great for comprehensive review.

Gartner and Hiatt’s Atlas and text of Histology

This resource covers mainly the basics of histology. In addition to going key concepts, the book also covers important staining techniques. Another unique feature about this book is that through Lipincott Connect,  it allows you to personalize your study sessions by combining videos clips, study questions and other relevant notes from other books in your library into a personalized study collection.  This is a good feature because it allows you to tailor your study materials based on what yourr own weak areas are.

Recently, board style review questions were added to this resource, which is definitely an added plus.   

Mills and Sternberg’s Diagnostic Surgical Pathology

This covers virtually all diseases and consists of 2 volumes. In addition to high quality images, it contains all of the latest diagnostic techniques from every anatomic site.

What stands out in this resource is step by step guidance in to how to approach real world patient cases. It walks you through everything from which consults to make, to evaluation of various biopsy specimens.

Finally for your convenience, the book is available in audiobook format, in addition to hard cover.

Biopsy Interpretation, THe Frozen Section

This resource focuses on when to do  an interpretation of a frozen section in the clinical setting, as well as what steps to take for management.

Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Board Review

This is a resource for those recertification board exams as well as in service board exams. In addition to over 2000 study questions. This resource contains an atlas of colored histology images. The resource also covers many pathology and  subcategories of pathology such as electron microscopy as well as cytopathology.

The other very good thing about this is that In addition to the clinical pathology the book also covers the basics and covers anatomical pathology. This is valuable because it allows you to stay sharp on your understanding of basic histological concepts. Other features worth mentioning is the note sharing tool, the ability to save content for later use as well as the convenient search tool

Textbook of Histology

  • This resource contains quick reference tables, powerpoint, bolded terms as well as concise chapter summaries which give you very succinct and to the point summaries on the most important information,
  • USMLE image style questions that are centered around HIstology
  • ebook version which gives you access to full text reference tables and can be accessed from
  • Additionally It is the only resource which contains lab exercises that can be done

In Conclusion

As you can see there are plenty of good options out there for choosing a good histology textbook. Using any of the choices on this list is sure to help you in your medical trainig. Which ever one you choose comes down to your personal preference as well as where you are in your medical career.

If you found this article helpful you may find some of the following articles helpful

12 Best Histology Question Banks For Medical Students

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