Prevalence of lung lesions at autopsy: A histopathological study

Introduction: Infections, occupational diseases and neoplastic lesions are common in lungs. In Autopsy internal organs including lungs are studied to determine cause of death and to study prevalence of various lung lesions. So, prophylactic prevention plan can be prepared for prevention of various lung lesions induced mortality and reducing need for invasive biopsy as well. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out in Pathology department. Tissue bits from lungs, retrieved at the time of autopsy, were preserved in 10% formalin, processed and examined microscopically. A total of 200 cases were received during the period of June 2021 to October 2022. Results: Among these 200 cases, in 10 cases (5%) the tissue was autolysed. Wide spectrum of microscopic findings were seen, the commonest being congestion (39%) followed by pneumonia (19.5%). There were 13% cases of inflammation in which 5.5% are of granulomatous type. There were 3% cases of intra alveolar hemorrhage and around 0.5% cases of interstitial fibrosis. The study also had 3.5% cases of malignancies. Conclusion: This study highlights various lesions in lungs confirmed by histopathology, which were either incidental or direct cause of death. The shortcoming in present study was non receipt of whole organ or representative sample at the time of autopsy, which if overcome will set much higher standard of autopsy reporting and would be a more useful tool in understanding cause of deat