A multidisciplinary method for study of lung structure and function.

At the June, 1958, Aspen Symposium on Emphysema (1), a committee reported on the preparation of human lungs for macroscopic and microscopic study. Recommendations were then made as to fixation, sectioning, and staining of entire lungs (2-4). Other methods of fixing, injecting, and sectioning air-dried lungs were noted at the same conference, or previous to it, using positive pressure alone, with or without prior fixation (5-7). More recently, negative pressure (8) was recommended. The writer would like to add a method to those already described, in the belief that it is simpler, safer, and more comprehensive. It is further believed that the method introduces several novel features without increasing the difficulty of the process or adding to the work load of those who have to use it. This method correlates the findings of the pathologist with those of the roentgenologist, the physiologist, and the clinician, and in no way does it interfere with the preliminary pulmonary function studies on postmortem lungs (8). The method is considered a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the structure and function of the lungs.