[Nature of pseudo-amyloid masses in lymphocytic pneumonitis]

The material of open lung biopsies from a female patient with lymphocytic pneumonitis affecting mainly lower parts of the lungs was studied light- and electron-microscopically, immunohistochemically. Diffuse lymphoplasmacytic infiltration with an admixture of macrophages, single giant multinuclear cells and pseudo-amyloid inclusions were found. Morphogenesis of pseudo-amyloid inclusions is related to processes of pulmonary fibro-atelectasis with subsequent imbibition by immunoglobulins (hyperglobulinemia was found in circulating blood).