[Cytomorphology of the bronchial secretion in hyperplastic, metaplastic and tumoral lesions of the lung].

Cytomorphological examination, following fixing in paraffin and staining with haematoxin-eosin, of expectorated material from 20 cases of suspected pulmonary lesions is reported. 4 cases proved positive for bronchogenic carcinoma, 2 presented flat epithelial cells referable to squamous metaplasia and 1 revealed voluminous cells attributable to bronchial adenoma. Biopsy confirmed the cytological evidence in the positive neoplasia cases while indirect confirmation of the accuracy of the negative findings was given by the clinical course and subsequent follow-up of individual patients. Reference to the literature data concerning cytological pulmonary diagnosis is followed by a discussion of differential diagnosis problems in various bronchial diseases, attention being particularly given to some of the more fundamental biological features connected with the histogenesis of malignant epitelial tumours, especially squamous metaplasia; the latter may be observed in TB, in bronchiectasia, in abscesses and in association with carcinoma.