Chest
Clinical InvestigationsDiffuse Panbronchiolitis: A Disease of the Transitional Zone of the Lung
Section snippets
Case 1
A 64-year-old man was admitted because of worsening nocturnal cough, sputum, and exertional dyspnea in 1973. He had been well until ten years prior to this admission when he noticed productive cough. Since 1967. he experienced exertional dyspnea, which gradually progressed. Physical examination on admission revealed cyanosis and orthopnea. Blood pressure was 110/62 mm Hg; pulse rate. 104 beats per minute and regular; respiratory rate. 27 per minute; and body temperature, 36.2°C. The chest was
Results
Through clinical, radiologic, physiologic, and pathologic analyses based on previously accumulated data since 1969 by Homma and Yamanaka,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 a nationwide survey with the cooperation of 30 universities, national, and municipal institutions throughout the country was organized to study the incidence and the morbidity of the disease through the aid of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan.9
In this survey, the clinical diagnostic criteria for this disease were as
Discussion
The typical pathologic features of the lesions of diffuse panbronchiolitis are thickening of the walls of the respiratory bronchiole with infiltration of lymphocytes, plasma cells, and histiocytes, and extension of these inflammatory changes toward the peribronchiolar tissues as shown in Figures 2 and 5. In the advanced stage, narrowing and constriction of respiratory bronchioli by infiltration of these cells, proliferation of lymph-follicles, and accumulation of foamy cells within the wall and
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan.
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Manuscript received March 19; revision accepted July 30