[Pulmonary bone marrow embolism in nonselected autopsy material]

We analyzed the incidence of bone marrow emboli of the pulmonary arteries in nonselected autopsy material involving 620 cases. We evaluated the incidence of these emboli, age, sex, underlying disease and microscopic picture. It was found that bone marrow emboli of the pulmonary arteries occurred in 7% of cases, most frequently in patients aged from 50 to 69 years and they were located in the medium and small-lumen arteries. It was found that bone marrow emboli of the pulmonary arteries may complicate posttraumatic bone fractures, costal and sternal fractures in the course of reanimation as well as malignant neoplasms and shock.