Re: Congenital Alveolar Dysplasia of the Lungs by H. Edward MacMahon, Pediatrics 2:43, 1948

Abstract

No organ in the body has been the object of a greater number of erroneous descriptions and interpretations of normal and abnormal processes than has the lung and it seems unfortunate that your journal has been guilty of, adding to the welter of misstatements about this organ. simultaneously in the July issue of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY and in PEDIATRICS Dr. H. Edward MacMahon has described a condition under the title "Congenital Alveolar Dysplasia of the Lungs" which he has found in many infants. He believes it is a congenital malformation often incompatible with life, resulting from the failure of alveoli to develop normally. He describes a clinical picture in which the infant is usually normal at birth, becomes progressively dyspneic and cyanotic and often dies of respiratory failure in 36 to 48 hours. Postmortem examination reveals red purple lungs that are of increased size and weight, that contain no visible air and sink in water. In relation to microscopic examination, he states, "There are too few alveoli and there is too much interstitial tissue." "The histologic structure of the lung bears a resemblance to the pattern in a three to four-month-old fetus." "In its simplest form the histologic picture resembles the pulmonary pattern that one finds during the fourth and fifth month of intrauterine life," "This picture of a large lung composed of an excess of primitive but highly vascularized interalveolar mesenchymal tissue, a diminished number of alveoli and many overdistended alveolar ducts constitutes the essential findings in congenital alveolar dysplasia."