INCIDENCE OF PULMONARY EMPHYSEMA - WITH OBSERVATIONS ON RELATIVE INCIDENCE AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF EMPHYSEMA

Abstract

In a random necropsy series of 138 patients, 49.3 per cent were found to have emphysema which could be categorized as centrilobular, panacinar, or alveolar duct, the latter two being closely related. In 6.5 per cent of this series, the emphysema was severe enough to cause death or disability. Centrilobular emphysema was found to be slightly more common and involved the upper zones (upper lobe and superior segment of lower lobe) more frequently and more severely. Panacinar emphysema and alveolar duct emphysema were more or less evenly distributed spatially in the lungs of the 138 patients selected at random, but in cases of severe emphysema panacinar emphysema involved the lower zones of the lungs (basal segments of the lower lobes and lower part of the middle lobe or lingula) more frequently and more severely. Lungs with widespread severe emphysema usually showed various mixtures of centrilobular and panacinar emphysema, and were rarely pure examples of either.