OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathologic characteristics of organizing pneumonia of the autopsies in elder and to analyze the possible underlying etiologic factors.

METHODSNinety-five cases of organizing pneumonia were found from 635 elderly autopsy reports of the Beijing Hospital since 1980. The morphologic and imaginal features were analyzed.

RESULTSThe foci of organizing pneumonia in our series were often small, patchy, scattered and adjacent to other lung lesion. There were, however, some variations in cases with different underlying conditions. The conditions associated with organizing pneumonia, as detected in our series, were: (1) 36 cases with suppurative inflammation, lung abscesses and chronic relapsing pneumonia; (2) 17 cases with fungal or viral infection; (3) 16 cases with aspiration pneumonia; (4) 5 cases with radiation pneumonia. We observed that it was not uncommon for organizing pneumonia coexisting with atelectasis and chronic pleuritis. The image of organizing pneumonia was varied.

CONCLUSIONSOrganizing pneumonia is a common finding in autopsies of the elder. It occurs in association with many diseases and the basic pathologic changes are similar. All of which represent secondary phenomenon. Possible etiologic factors include infection (due to bacteria, fungi or virus), aspiration and radiation. The possibility of organizing pneumonia should be considered if the shadow of lung is undisappeared in imagin.