Histologic findings and comparison with sputum smears in pulmonary aspiration of vegetable particles in syringomyelia: a case report.

BACKGROUND

Pulmonary aspiration of vegetable matter may be a serious cause of lung damage, requiring, almost always, the help of a histopathologic examination.

CASE

We report the case of a 55-year-old woman with a granulomatous pneumonitis due to repeated pulmonary aspiration of vegetable particles and affected by a syringomyelia. Histologic findings from a lobectomy section are shown and compared with those observed in different cytologic sputum samples.

CONCLUSION

The recognition of uncommon morphologic structures, and their comparison with others already known, both in histologic sections and in cellular smears, may be useful when it comes to establishing a sure diagnosis.