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General and Systemic Histopathology, C601&C602
     
    Slide 14: Lung with pulmonary embolus
     
     
    The picture pretty much says it all.  You should have no trouble finding the clots in the pulmonary vasculature.

    See this slide with the virtual microscope.

    This slide shows a pulmonary embolus lodged in a major pulmonary artery. An embolus is a blood clot that formed somewhere else, broke free, traveled through the vascular system and lodged in the pulmonary vasculature. Do you know the difference between a thrombus and embolus ? Many things can become an "embolus," the term is not specific: bullets, bone chips, amniotic fluid, even air. This slide shows a fairly typical artifact of formalin fixed tissue. At the time of death, the blood clot filled the vessel, the area of "clearing" between the vessel wall and the clot that we see now represents shrinkage during processing of the tissue. 


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