Malakoplakia of the lung: a report of two cases

We have presented the clinical, radiologic and pathologic features of 2 patients with pulmonary malakoplakia. The histologic features, including diagnositc Michaelis-Gutmann bodies, were identical to those in the urinary tract where malakoplakia is recognized as an abnormal cellular response to chronic bacterial infection. Both patients were immunocompromised: one a cardiac transplant, the other a patient with Hodgkin's disease. The lesions were focal and showed some response to antibiotic therapy, although other disease processes progressed in both patients. Malakoplakia should be added to the list of unusual infections occurring at unusual sites in compromised hosts.