Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Goodpasture syndrome, also known as anti–basement membrane antibody disease, is an autoimmune disorder characterized by repeated episodes of pulmonary hemorrhage, usually associated with glomerulonephritis and the…
Etiology Immune-mediated muscle inflammation and vascular damage are the hallmarks of polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM). In PM the immune system is primed to act against muscle antigens, whereas in…
Etiology Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a systemic disease of unknown etiology, affecting almost exclusively women. LAM is characterized by idiosyncratic smooth muscle cell proliferation (LAM cells), which leads to lung cysts,…
Currently, the worldwide number of tobacco smokers is estimated at 1.1 billion people, with the World Health Organization estimating that tobacco use is responsible for approximately 6 million premature deaths…
Etiology Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) is a disease with certain features of polymyositis, scleroderma, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Much of the evidence that MCTD is a distinct clinical entity…
Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Pneumonia and influenza represent the eighth leading cause of mortality in the United States, with an estimated 1.3 million hospital admissions yearly attributable to pneumonia in…
Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) is a chronic interstitial lung disease characterized by homogeneous expansion of the alveolar walls by inflammation or fibrosis or both. NSIP is…
Etiology Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is an uncommon disease. Several synonyms, including histiocytosis X, eosinophilic granuloma, and Langerhans cell granulomatosis, have been used in the past, but the term Langerhans…
Organizing pneumonia (OP) is a histologic pattern characterized by the presence of intraluminal granulation tissue polyps within alveolar ducts and surrounding alveoli associated with chronic inflammation of the surrounding lung…
Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been defined as “a specific form of chronic fibrosing interstitial pneumonia limited to the lung and associated with the histologic and/or…
