DESQUAMATIVE INTERSTITIAL PNEUMONIA AND IDIOPATHIC DIFFUSE PULMONARY FIBROSIS

Seven cases of the idiopathic diffuse fibrosing alveolitis are reported. Five of them were identified as being of the desquamative interstitial pneumonia type while 2 belong to the more commonly known diffuse interstitial fibrosis of Hamman-Rich type.The lung sections of these and of the 2 previously reported cases were examined with special methods including PAS and iron staining. A series of lung sections from patients who died of mitral valve stenosis were also examined for comparison. One of the latter cases had in conjunction with long-standing mitral stenosis a concomitant presence of advanced diffuse pulmonary fibrosis of the desquamative interstitial pneumonia type. The bronchiolectatic air spaces were filled with typical desquamated "granular pneumocytes," but contrary to the original description of these cells they stained also intensely blue for iron, which appeared as a dark diffuse blue, a granular pattern, or a mixture of the two. This proved to us that there is basically no difference betwe...