Application of whole-mount section of lung specimen in study of radiologic-pathologic correlations.

We evaluated the usefulness of the whole-mount section of the inflated-fixed lung specimen in the study of radiologic-pathologic correlations. Altogether, 24 resected fresh lobe specimens with 1.5- to 3.0-cm solitary pulmonary carcinomas or tuberculomas were inflated with air, intrabronchially fixed by infusing Heitzman's solution, and finally cut into 10- to 15-micron-thick whole-mount sections for the histopathological examination. All 24 inflated-fixed lobes were satisfactorily soft as sponge, sufficiently springy, and kept their original shape. All whole-mount sections clearly presented the complete morphological features of the whole lobes, and could be directly observed by the naked eye and examined under microscopy. The use of the whole-mount section of the lung specimen may facilitate precisely and effectively the studies of the radiologic-pathologic correlations.