DIFFUSE INTERSTITIAL FIBROSIS OF LUNGS

Abstract

DIFFUSE interstitial fibrosis of the lungs was the subject of editorial comment inThe Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 17, 1953.¹This summarized the reports of the relatively small number of cases that have appeared in the medical literature since attention was called to this entity by Hamman and Rich.² It is the purpose of this presentation to summarize the salient clinical features from the published reports and from our current experience with three cases and to present the pathological findings in our cases. We found the phase microscope³and the McManus-Schiff reaction particularly useful in combination with observations made by means of the Masson trichrome stain, the Wilder reticulum method, and the Weigert elastic tissue stain as well as hematoxylin and eosin stained sections. Pulmonary lesions in these cases were compared with those seen in acute interstitial pneumonia or primary atypical pneumonia; in pulmonary