FATAL CHRONIC BRONCHITIS

Abstract

Four cases of severe chronic bronchitis were studied clinically, physiologically, and morphologically. Morphologic studies were made with formalin fume-fixation of one lung and conventional liquid formalin fixation of the other. Chronic bronchitis is a clinical and pathologic entity which can be fatal without a major emphysematous component. Clinically and physiologically, chronic bronchitis simulates the picture of diffuse pulmonary emphysema. The morphologic appearance of the lungs and airways in fatal chronic bronchitis suggests that the process may be amenable to vigorous treatment and at least partly reversible in its early stages. The mechanism by which severe chronic bronchitis commonly causes pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale remains obscure. Chronic hypoxia probably plays an important role.