23463              EMPHYSEMA AND ANTHRACOSIS

The patient was a 70-year old man who had suffered from chronic bronchitis for many years. He had complained of some shortness of breath for the last ten years of his life and had noted some reduction in his exercise tolerance. He presented finally because of a myocardial infarction. He was recovering reasonably well but then had an extension of the infarct and died.

The specimen consists of the left lung sectioned to show advanced destructive panlobular emphysema with anthracosis throughout the lung. The disease is most advanced in the upper lobe and is less marked and more focal in distribution in the lower lobe. There is some pneumonic consolidation in the lower lobe in the lung tissue intervening between the emphysematous areas. All the lesions show very dense anthracotic pigmentation.