General
and Systemic Histopathology, C601&C602
Slide 74: Lung with Pulmonary Vascular
Congestion
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The congested vessels literally leap
out of the tissue on this slide. Look not only at the vessels, but also the
frothy material that has collected within the alveolar spaces. What's going
on here?
See this slide with the
virtual microscope. |
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The changes here are a little
subtle. The blood vessels are distended and "over filled" with blood. They have
became dilated, in this case, because of the back up of blood in the pulmonary
circulation due to an abruptly failing left ventricle. This person had a
myocardial infarction, and experienced sudden failure of the pump. You may see
evidence of pulmonary edema in the alveolar air spaces. The edema fluid will
appear as a faint pink stained material in the background of the air spaces. It
represents the extravasation of fluid through the vessel wall as a result of the
increased lumenal pressure. |
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