[A clinical study of terminal pneumonia]

A total of 210 cases of terminal pneumonia were studied out of 1183 autopsied cases at Tenri Yorozu Hospital from 1978 to 1985. Underlying diseases included lung cancer (77 patients), gastric cancer (26 patients), leukemia (24 patients). There was no statistical significance between the time from death until autopsy and the bacterial examination of autopsied lung and blood. P. aeruginosa and Klebsiella sp. were the most frequently isolated organisms. Seventy percent of isolated organisms were gram negative bacilli. In spite of administration of antibiotics, bacteria isolated from specimens before death were sometimes the same as the one isolated from specimens after death. In addition it was recognized that multiple intensive examinations of sputum are necessary for rapid diagnosis of pneumonia. It was also noted that the longer the duration of antibiotic administration, the more frequently P. aeruginosa was isolated. Finally the possibility of pneumonia should be kept in mind in compromised hosts.