Dissemination is a kind of pathological process

Dissemination is the spread of an infectious agent or tumor cells from the primary focus of the disease throughout the entire body or organism. This is done through the blood flow and lymphatic system. After dissemination, there is usually a process of generalization, which is the development of many foci. Such secondary manifestations are called metastases.

Kinds of foci of diseases and their characteristics

The presence in the body of foci with the size of pathological shadows from 1 to 10 mm means that there is dissemination. These may be sites that are different in pathogenesis and morphological structure. They are inflammatory and non-inflammatory, fibrotic. In general, they can be a cluster of tissues and cells. In the field of inflammatory foci a process of perifocal character arises. In addition, such areas have the property of merging. At the same time, they begin to resemble the infiltrative-pneumonic process. When the lungs are damaged, bilateral pathology is noted. Here we should mention some differences in the diagnosis. Previously, such processes were commonly called diffuse pulmonary diseases. However, not always there can be total defeat. In this regard, the name "disseminated" in this case is more suitable. Changes in this case may not be diffuse.

Symptoms

Dissemination is an x-ray definition that includes about a hundred different diseases. They can occur with all sorts of symptoms. Dissemination in the lungs is usually accompanied by an inflammatory process of the pleura. Symptoms are of a twofold nature. In inflammatory diseases there is a syndrome of intoxication and hypoxia. Against the background of disseminated lung cancer and carcinomatosis - respiratory failure, progressing with the further development of pathology. Pulmonary dissemination is difficult to diagnose. That is why there is a high probability of error. For a more accurate diagnosis, a complete examination of patients is necessary.

Classification of pathologies

Diseases in which dissemination occurs is:

- alveolitis (toxic fibrosing, exogenous allergic alveolitis, Hammen-Rich syndrome, microlithiasis, proteinosis);

- granulomatosis (pneumoconiosis, sarcoidosis, disseminated tuberculosis, pneumomycosis, histiocytosis);

- inflammation accompanied by tumoral formations (carcinomatosis, bronchoalveolar, metastatic cancer);

- rare diseases (Goodpasture syndrome, idiopathic hemosiderosis, leiomyomatosis);

- interstitial fibrosis, which are formed in the defeat of other organs and systems (collagen, radiation damage, cardiogenic sclerosis, as well as sclerosis with liver disease).

Symptoms

Along with the general, there are individual indications of the development of disseminated processes. Knowledge and the ability to recognize them greatly facilitate diagnosis. With pulmonary fibrosis there is a moderate narrowing of the pulmonary fields. Also their transparency is reduced. Changes in the tubercular form are located in the upper parts of the lungs. But the diffuse- type pneumosclerosis is more pronounced in the lower part. Cancer metastases are located singly in the middle section of the lungs, and in carcinomatosis there is a large number of nodes. With tuberculosis the foci have different sizes, their localization is subpleural. In the case of pneumoconiosis, the pathological process progresses in the lower lymph nodes, then granulomas arise, then the tissues are sclerosed. The remaining processes of dissemination are much worse diagnosed, therefore a complex of laboratory examinations is needed.