Relationship between Bronchial Anthracofibrosis and Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Autopsy Findings

The purpose of this study was to evaluate thecharacteristics of anthracofibrosis and the relationship between bronchialanthracofibrosis (BAF) and tuberculosis during autopsy in the Iranian LegalMedicine Organization (LMO). Inthis cross-sectional study, 385 subjects who had died from 2007 to 2010 were examined. A questionnaire having information such as the deceased'sage, sex, ethnicity, smoking status and occupation was filled out for eachsubject. Subjects in whom autopsied lungs revealed definite obligation, edema,bronchial stricture and dark pigmentation within mucosa were considered to haveanthracofibrosis. Pulmonary tuberculosis was considered with typicalgranulomatous in bronchial biopsy or smear positive. During the 4-year period, we evaluated 385cases, 48(12.5%) of whom had BAF. Of these, 60.4% were female. Mean age ofsubjects with anthracofibrosis was 67.08±8.4 yr. Pulmonary tuberculosiswas demonstrated in 24 (50%) of cases with BAF. According to bronchi features,the anatomical distribution of BAF in 60.4% cases was multiple.Anthracofibrosis more commonly occurred in right middle lobe bronchus (47.92%).This study revealed a significant correlation between BAF and pulmonarytuberculosis (P=0.001). So, BAF is one of the infrequent symptoms ofpulmonary tuberculosis. In patients with anthracofibrosis and pulmonarysymptoms, TB would be taken into consideration.