[Anatomo-pathology and classification of diffuse infiltrative lung diseases]

Bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchial and transbronchial biopsies, and surgical lung biopsies are the usual specimens required to evaluate an infiltrative diffuse lung disease. After clinical and histological evaluation, three situations can be summarized: the pathological diagnosis is one of a specific pneumonia; the diagnosis is one of interstitial pneumonia correlated with a particular clinical setting; the diagnosis is one of interstitial pneumonia classified and considered clinically as idiopathic.