Aim: To evaluate surgical lung biopsies in patients with a clinically and radiologically set diagnosis of ILD. Introduction: Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are a group of lung diseases affecting the lung interstitium. These entities share similar clinical and radiological features and are distinguished primarily by the histopathologic patterns on surgical lung biopsy. Material and Methods: The study included 30 patients with a surgical lung biopsy performed in 10-year period at the Institute for Pulmonary Diseases of Vojvodina in Sremska Kamenica. Standard H E stain, special stains for conective tissue and smooth muscle, as well as immunohistochemistry in some cases were used. The patient’s age, sex, clinical symptoms, surgical biopsy type and histological findings were analyzed. Results: Of the 30 patients who underwent surgical lung biopsy, an open lung biopsy according to Claassen was performed in 14 patients, in 12 biopsies biopsy according to Maassen was obtained, while in 4 patients material for histopathological analysis was taken by VATS (Video - Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery). The most common biopsy site was upper lobe in 16 cases, then lingula in 10, middle lobe in 2, and lower lobe and lung base in 1 patient. By histopathological analysis, diagnosis of UIP in 8, PLCH in 7, sarcoidosis in 6, hypersensitivity pneumonitis in 3, NSIP in 2, LAM, LIP, DIP and ACIF in 1 patient. Conclusion: Diagnosis of ILD is based on history, physical examination, high-resolution CT imaging, pulmonary function tests, and lung biopsy which presents golden standard in diagnostic approach.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.