PULMONARY CAPILLARY HEMANGIOMATOSIS

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 6 (2), 77-84
Abstract
A Cypriot male of 22 yr died after suffering recurrent daily hemoptyses of varying severity and slowly increasing effort intolerance for a period of 4 1/2 yr. Examination of a lung biopsy specimen revealed dilated vascular channels suggestive of a congenital anomaly of the pulmonary vasculature. Histological examination of the lung following necropsy revealed the diagnosis of pulmonary capillary hemoangiomatosis. In this condition sheets of thin-walled blood vessels infiltrate the lung parenchyma, the walls of pulmonary arteries and veins, the bronchi and the pleura. The infiltration of pulmomary veins and venules induces secondary pulmonary veno-occlusive disease. This appears to be the 2nd example of this disease which has been reported. It is open to clinical and histological mis-diagnosis and clinicians and pathologists should be aware of the existence of this entity.