[Pulmonary lesions observed in victims of an aircraft accident]

The authors have studied the lungs of some of the victims of a recent important aircraft accident. The results have been compared to the literature and to an experimental study of decompression effects on animals. The observed injuries were those which are classically reported, consisting of pulmonary haemorrhage, acute traumatic pseudo-emphysema and laceration. There was no characteristic distribution except for the traumatic emphysema which was mostly subpleural and on the edges of pulmonary lobes. The general aspect can be called tiger-like-lung; the injuries had a very heterogeneous distribution. The comparison of this study to the literature and to our experimental work shows that the observed pulmonary injuries were not characteristic and could not indicate the cause. The peculiar aspect of these lungs is well named "traumatic lung". It seems very difficult to determine the etiology of each elementary injury.