[Differential diagnosis and etiology of epitheloid cell granulomatosis of the lung].
Our knowledge on epithelioid cell granulomatosis of the lung has been extended in recent years. New entities have been added, like zirconiosis, others like tuberculosis, mycobacteriosis and sarcoidosis have gained new interest, because molecular techniques allowed new insight into their pathogenesis and a more rapid and species-specific diagnosis. Experimental work in addition has added a lot of information about the network of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators responsible for granuloma formation, however, our knowledge of this network is still incomplete. Three types of agents are now known to cause epitheloid cell granulomas: infectious organisms (bacteria, fungi, and parasites), products of plants and animals (pollen, sporangia, proteins), and metallic compounds. In addition there is still a group of epithelioid cell granulomatoses with unknown etiology. Sarcoidosis, one of these granulomatosis, has recently elicited an old controversy: By molecular techniques Mycobacteria and Corynebacterium acnes have been identified in sarcoid granulomas and a link to the aetiology of sarcoidosis has been proposed. If these bacteria induce some cases of sarcoidosis by an allergic mechanism, has still to be proven.
PubMed Abstracts
PubMed Abstracts