Histopathological Pattern of Lungs on Post-Mortem Specimen – A Study of 100 Cases

Abstract

Background: Lungs are a major organ involved in infectious, inflammatory, occupational and neoplastic diseases. Lungs are also involved secondarily in almost all terminal events. Autopsy is an important tool to identify cause and manner of death and hence to establish preventive methods. Aims: To study the histopathological pattern of lungs in 100 post mortem cases. Methods: This was an observational study on 100 post-mortem specimens of lungs received in the department of Pathology, GMC, Patiala for a period of 1 year from August 2014 onwards. A thorough gross examination was done on the received lung specimens and sections were taken from the representative areas. These sections were processed for paraffin blocks; slides were prepared and stained with routine Hematoxylin and Eosin stains. The slides were studied under the microscope and the results were noted. Results: Out of the 100 cases, 63 showed terminal nonspecific changes; 19 cases showed the evidence of chronic venous congestion. 10 cases were of pneumonia, 6 of granulomatous pathology, and 1 case of metastatic deposits of adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: Infections are the most commonly noticed primary lung pathology mainly comprising of pneumonia followed by tuberculosis. Hence, efforts should be made for the prevention of these infectious diseases.

A Histopathological Study on Post-Mortem Specimens Received to Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Kadapa.

“…1,2,3,4 Respiratory system -In respiratory system maximum pathological lesions are chronic venous congestion of lung followed by emphysema, lobar pneumonia, chronic bronchitis and Tuberculosis. The present study results correlate with Manjits et al 5 Chronic venous congestion was seen in 19 cases (19%) in study done by Kaur et al 6 Chronic venous congestion -was noted by the presence of thickened alveolar walls, presence of numerous haemosiderin-laden macrophages (heart failure cells) within the alveolar lumens, and thickened vessel walls. Pneumonia was noted by the presence of vascular engorgement, intra-alveolar fluid with neutrophils, and often the presence of numerous bacteria and red cells, and fibrin filling the alveolar spaces.…”

“…Pneumonia was noted by the presence of vascular engorgement, intra-alveolar fluid with neutrophils, and often the presence of numerous bacteria and red cells, and fibrin filling the alveolar spaces. 6 A study was done by Ohya in 1994 on 130 medicolegal cases to detect early Histopathological changes of lungs. In this study, pulmonary oedema and haemorrhage were noted, but the incidence of such changes did not reveal any significant difference among the causes of death.…”

Spectrum Of Histopathological Lesions In Lungs At Medico Legal Autopsy: A Ten Years Study

“…In the present study 154 cases of lung autopsy were studied. Male to female ratio was 1.8:1, similar to study done by [1,3,9] commonest age group was 20-29 (22.72%) 3rd decade, followed by 4th decade. Similar observations were noted by [4,10].…”

“…Lung examination is the most important part of both the medico legal and clinical autopsy. Pathological examination of autopsy lungs gives valuable information on various stages of diseases and may reveal diagnosis which may not be suspected clinically [1,2,3].…”

“…An autopsy is a medical practice that consists of a thorough examination done on a body after death and should be a gold stranded to ascertain the cause of death [1]. Medico legal autopsies are performed on the instructions of the legal authority in circumstances related to suspicious, sudden, obscure, unnatural or criminal deaths [2,3]. Various histopathological findings unrelated to the cause of death are noticed in routine histopathological examination of medico legal autopsies [4,5].…”