Lung
Other nonneoplastic disease
Intravenous drug abusers
Author: Elliot Weisenberg, M.D.
Last author update: 1 December 2011
Last staff update: 24 August 2020
Copyright: 2003-2023, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed search: pulmonary intravenous drug abuse
Table of Contents
Clinical features | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) imagesCite this page: Weisenberg E. Intravenous drug abusers. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/lungnontumorivda.html. Accessed March 22nd, 2023.
Clinical features
- Often incidental findings at autopsy or biopsy
- Lesions due to injection of insoluble fillers of oral mediation, which lodge in small pulmonary arteries; may include crospovidone, talc, cornstarch or microcrystalline cellulose with characteristic findings
- All but cornstarch persist indefinitely
- Patients may have dyspnea or hypoxia; due to related infection, pulmonary edema, diffuse alveolar damage, vasculopathy leading to pulmonary hypertension or interstitial fibrosis
- Chest xray usually shows a micronodular pattern
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Fresh or organizing arterial thrombi with foreign material
- Perivascular foreign body granulomas contain birefringent foreign material resembling starch, talc or other materials
- May be associated with acute vasculitis, interstitial inflammation and fibrosis
Microscopic (histologic) images
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