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Table 1 Classification schemes of plastic bronchitis

From: Simultaneous atelectasis in human bocavirus infected monozygotic twins: was it plastic bronchitis?

Seear et al. 1997 (3)

Madsen et al. 2005 (4)

  
 

Associated disease

Histology

Pathophysiology

Type I (inflammatory) casts

Asthma and atopic diseases

Fibrin with a dense eosinophilic infiltrate, Charcot-Leyden crystals

Hypersecretion of viscous mucus (dyscrasia)

- acute presentation

Type II (acellular) casts

Lymphatic disorders

Chylous casts sometimes containing fibrin

Incompetence of lymphatic valves, mechanical disruption of the thoracic duct or one of its large tributaries, lymphangiectasia, lymphangiomatosis

- chronic or recurrent

 

Structural congenital heart disease

Acellular mucinous casts

High pulmonary venous pressure leading to an abnormal response of the bronchial epithelium resulting in excess mucus production

 

Sickle cell disease

Fibrinous material composition and pigmented histiocytes in the surrounding fluid

Ischemia of the bronchial tree caused by vaso-occlusion leading to ciliary motility dysfunction