title: Adult bronchiolitis--a clinical and pathological interpretative classification.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bronchiolitis is a heterogeneous group of diseases of an inflammatory nature, centered on small conducting airways and often associated with other pulmonary disorders. No single classification scheme for bronchiolar diseases has been widely accepted. In this retrospective study, it was decided to apply a new clinical and pathological interpretative classification.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To propose a new clinical and pathological interpretative classification for adult bronchiolitis, based on statistical analysis of a population of 193 patients with histopathological diagnosis of bronchiolitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study analyzed the epidemiological characteristics, co-morbidities and radiological findings present in a group of patients with histopathological diagnosis of bronchiolitis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This trial involved 193 cases collected over a period of eleven years; 48 (24.9%) patients had simultaneous pulmonary disease; non-pulmonary diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type II Diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia were present in 57 cases. The image study was extremely important in order to integrate clinical and pathological aspects. In this study respiratory bronchiolitis related to smoking dominated. The radiological findings confirmed the secondary nature of the histopathological features, with prevalence of ground-glass patterns, pneumothorax and patterns of interstitial involvement, as described in the literature. It was also verified that clinical behavior of different forms of bronchiolitis was important to distinguish the various types, since they could progress without typical anatomopathological aspects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This trial showed that the vast majority of diagnosis obtained corresponded to bronchiolitis as secondary to pulmonary pathology. In most cases, morphological findings had to be complemented with clinical and radiological characteristics, in order to obtain the final diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology of the University Hospitals of Coimbra - Coimbra University Hospital Centre, Coimbra, Portugal. Electronic address: madama.daniela@gmail.com.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Madama
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology of the University Hospitals of Coimbra - Coimbra University Hospital Centre, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matos
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology of the University Hospitals of Coimbra - Coimbra University Hospital Centre, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology of the University Hospitals of Coimbra - Coimbra University Hospital Centre, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Matos
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology of the University Hospital of Coimbra - Coimbra University Hospital Centre, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Bronchiolitis; Pathological classification; Radiological findings