Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003 Jul;116(7):976-80.

Pathological study on severe acute respiratory syndrome

Zhenwei Lang  1 , Lijie Zhang, Shijie Zhang, Xin Meng, Junqiang Li, Chenzhao Song, Lin Sun, Yusen Zhou
Affiliations
  • PMID: 12890365

Pathological study on severe acute respiratory syndrome

Zhenwei Lang et al. Chin Med J (Engl). 2003 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: To study the pathological characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and its relationship to clinical manifestation.

Methods: Tissue specimens from 3 autopsies of probable SARS cases were studied by microscope, and the clinical data was reviewed.

Results: The typical pathological changes of lungs were diffuse hemorrhaging on the surface. A combination of serous, fibrinous and hemorrhagic inflammation was seen in most of the pulmonary alveoli with the engorgement of capillaries and detection of micro-thrombosis in some of these capillaries. Pulmonary alveoli thickened with interstitial mononuclear inflammatory infiltrates, suffered diffuse alveolar damage, experienced desquamation of pneumocytes and had hyaline-membrane formation, fibrinoid materials, and erythrocytes in alveolar spaces. There were thromboembolisms in some bronchial arteries. Furthermore, hemorrhagic necrosis was also evident in lymph nodes and spleen with the attenuation of lymphocytes. Other atypical pathological changes, such as hydropic degeneration, fatty degeneration, interstitial cell proliferation and lesions having existed before hospitalization were observed in the liver, heart, kidney and pancreas.

Conclusion: Severe damage to the pulmonary and immunological systems is responsible for the clinical features of SARS and may lead to the death of patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources

-