Pulmonary granulomatosis and angiitis

A wide variety of disease processes, each requiring different therapy, may give rise to granulomatous and vasculitic pulmonary lesions, making accurate aetiological diagnosis essential. For this, adequate sampling of tissue is necessary, and this usually requires open lung biopsy in order to obtain sufficient material for microbiological, immunocytochemical and ultrastructural as well as histopathological investigation. Many cases diagnosed as lymphomatoid granulomatosis are examples of extranodal lymphoma. It is suggested that this is an inappropriate name and that such cases should be referred to as pulmonary lymphomas and the phenotype specified.