title: Progressive diffuse pulmonary interstitial opacities due to complications of pulmonary tumor emboli: an autopsy case report.
abstract: A 76-year-old man complaining of exertional dyspnea was admitted to our hospital. Chest computed tomography revealed bilateral diffuse ground-glass opacities and small nodules. A transbronchial lung biopsy revealed tumor cell emboli in the pulmonary arteries. The patient was diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma using an endoscopic stomach biopsy; however, the interstitial opacities progressively worsened and he died of acute respiratory failure. An autopsy revealed extensive pulmonary tumor embolisms (PTE) with associated ischemic damages, e.g., infarctions, alveolar wall thickening with cuboidal metaplasia, hemorrhage, and diffuse alveolar damage. The ground-glass opacities in the chest computed tomography findings appear to correlate with the pathological ischemic changes associated with PTE.
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Saitama Cardiovascular and Respiratory Center; Division of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Jikei University School of Medicine, Japan. y.yoshii@jikei.ac.jp
authors: Yutaka
authors: Y
authors: Yoshii
authors: Yoshinori
authors: Y
authors: Kawabata
authors: Noboru
authors: N
authors: Takayanagi
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Araya
authors: Kazuyoshi
authors: K
authors: Kuwano
authors: Yutaka
authors: Y
authors: Sugita
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000473:pathology*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000473:pathology*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed