Organizing pneumonia

Organizing pneumonia is a nonspecific pathologic pattern of response to lung damage. It can be idiopathic, or it can occur secondary to various medical processes, most commonly infections, connective tissue disease, and pharmacological toxicity. Although there is no strict definition of the pattern of organising pneumonia as in other idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, the characteristic pattern of this disease could be considered to include patchy consolidations and ground-glass opacities in the peribronchial and subpleural areas of both lungs. Moreover, studies of the course of the disease show that these lesions respond to treatment with corticoids, migrate with or without treatment, and tend to recur when treatment is decreased or withdrawn. Other manifestations of organising pneumonia include nodules of different sizes and shapes, solitary masses, nodules with the reverse halo sign, a perilobular pattern, and parenchymal bands.