查看文章

Diffuse aspiration bronchiolitis (DAB) is a new term that we proposed to define a clinical entity that is characterized by a chronic inflammation of bronchioles caused by recurrent aspiration of foreign particles. In the present study, a total of 4, 880 consecutive autopsies were reviewed and we found 31 patients with DAB (0.64%). To investigate the clinicopathologic features of DAB, the 23 patients with DAB (age, 81.2±6.2 years [mean±SD]), from whom clinical information was available, had their features compared to those of 40 randomly selected patients with aspiration pneumonia (age, 81.9±8.3 years [mean±SD]). Oropharyngeal dysphagia was observed in half of the patients with DAB, and two thirds of patients with DAB were bedridden. The onset of DAB was more insidious than aspiration pneumonia, and in half of the patients with DAB episodes of aspiration were unrecognized. Neurologic disorders (52.2%) and …