[Clinicopathologic study of Churg-Strauss syndrome].
OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical and pathologic features of Churg-Strauss syndrome (CCS).


METHODS
Three cases of Churg-Strauss syndrome, including 1 autopsy case and 2 cases with open thoracoscopic lung biopsy, were retrospectively reviewed. All the tissue samples were formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded and stained with hematoxylin and eosin.


RESULTS
The first patient was a 68-year-old man who had history of asthma for 4 years, with recent exacerbation and chest pain for 2 weeks. Patient died 1 day after admission due to myocarditis and myocardial infarction. He did not have peripheral eosinophilia, skin or paranasal sinus pathology. CSS represented an incidental autopsy finding and he had never been treated with corticosteroid before. The other 2 patients were a 58-year-old male and a 12-year-old female, respectively. Both had history of asthma, peripheral eosinophilia and lung consolidations on computed tomographic examination. Pathologically, all cases showed vasculitis, perivascular allergic-type granulomas, eosinophilic pneumonia and asthmatic bronchitis.


CONCLUSIONS
Thorough understanding of the clinical and pathologic criteria is essential for arriving at a correct diagnosis of CSS. Although some patients may present with atypical symptoms, lung biopsies often reveal the classic histologic findings which include vasculitis and perivascular allergic granuloma formation.
Feng
Rui-e
RE
Department of Pathology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Liu
Hong-rui
HR
Liang
Zhi-yong
ZY
Shi
Ju-hong
JH
Zhu
Yuan-jue
YJ
Mu
Dong-ge
DG
Ke
Hui-xing
HX
Yu
Ji-yao
JY
D000368:Aged; D015267:Churg-Strauss Syndrome / Q000473:pathology*; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011657:Pulmonary Eosinophilia / Q000473:pathology; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000473:pathology*