Carnification

CARNIFICATION [from Latin caro (carnis) - meat], designation of pathological processes or conditions in the lungs, expressed in the fact that the lung parenchyma changes physical properties, acquiring the consistency and appearance of meat. The basis of C. is the overgrowth of lung alveoli with young connective tissue, and in most cases this overgrowth occurs through the organization of the exudate present in the alveoli. Thus, they speak of C. of the lungs after lobar pneumonia, when the dissolving fibrin in the alveoli is replaced by young granulation tissue, as a result of which the consolidated lung gradually becomes carnified; in such cases, they also speak of carnifying pneumonia. A similar change can also occur in tuberculous pneumonias, and in these cases, when the alveoli are replaced by ordinary granulation tissue, they speak of simple C., while the growth of tuberculous granulations is called tuberculous, specific C. They also sometimes speak of carnification in cases where the lung parenchyma loses air, collapses and is replaced by connective tissue, for example, in persistent atelectases. Carnified areas of the lung are dense, airless, and sink in water. Histologically, in areas with manifestations of C., one finds more or less complete proliferation of connective tissue, rich in cells at first, but later poor in them, scar tissue; and if C. was the outcome of pneumonia, the pattern of lung tissue (alveolar septa with capillaries) is preserved for a long time in this connective tissue. In some cases, C. is accompanied by the formation of a large number of smooth muscle fibers in the proliferated connective tissue (so-called muscular cirrhosis of the lung). The term 'carnification' is not used in relation to other organs, even if they acquire corresponding physical properties.