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Ann Thorac Surg 1995;60:1607-1608
© 1995 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Invited Commentary

Invited Commentary

Ackerman Laboratory of Surgical Pathology, Washington University Medical Center, Rm 300N Peters Bldg, One Barnes Hospital Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63110

See also page 1605.

This article by Flint and associates presents interesting information on the size and location of open pulmonary biopsy specimens, regarding the ease with which such specimens establish the diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Flint and associates conclude that a single wedge biopsy of 2 cm or more taken from a radiographically suitable area of either lung is sufficient for reliable pathologic interpretation. Although this information may, at first glance, seem pedestrian, there in fact have been very few prior clinicopathologic studies that have provided concrete data on the diagnostic impact of specimen characteristics. For that reason, this article is an important one.

However, one must bear in mind that the interpretations and recommendations of this study may not be applicable to other parenchymal lung diseases. An almost irresistable-but unwise-general tendency in medicine is to extrapolate diagnostic methods and treatments that pertain to one disorder to all others in the same generic category, regardless of whether concrete data exist to support the validity of that approach. However, the best way of determining potential effects of sampling on the recognition of various interstitial pulmonopathies other than idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is to repeat the study reported herein, using Flint and associates' methodology as a paradigm.

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Ann. Thorac. Surg. 1995 60: 1605-1607. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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This Article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wick, M. R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Wick, M. R. Related Collections Related Article