23396              STAPHYLOCOCCAL PNEUMONIA

The patient was an 82 year old man who was admitted because of a cerebral haemorrhage.  While in hospital he contracted pneumonia and subsequently died.

The specimen consists of the right lung sectioned to show scattered patches of septic bronchopneumonia throughout the lung.  The disease is most advanced in the lower lobe where large purulent patches are becoming confluent and have broken down in several places to form acute abscesses.  The largest abscess measures 4 x 3 x 3 cms with a ragged lining of necrotic lung.  Antemortem thrombi are visible in medium-sized vessels in the lower lobe.  The bronchopneumonic patches are fewer and smaller in the upper lobe.  The overlying pleura shows a little fibrinous reaction at the base.