| Foreign body granuloma
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Etiology
Almost any inert foreign body, such as pieces of glass,
crystalline materials, talc, and pieces of soil can
generate a foreign body granuloma.
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Pathogenesis
A foreign body granuloma is a reaction to inert foreign
materials, that are too large to be ingested by either
microphages (PMNs) or macrophages.,
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Epidemiology
Common
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General Gross Description
Grossly, a foreign body granuloma may be visualized as
a firm nodule, clearly distinguishable from the
surrounding normal tissue.
Examples:
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General Microscopic Description
Histologically it is composed of macrophages that have
differentiated into large cells with indistinct cell
boundaries called epitheloid cells.
Some of these may fuse with each other to give rise to
"foreign body giant cells" - multinucleate cells often
containing ingested foreign material.
Unlike the classical "immune" or Langhans type giant
cell, in which the nuclei tend to be distributed along
the periphery in a semicircle, leaving the center free
of nuclei, the foreign body giant cell tends to have
nuclei distributed randomly all over its cytoplasm.
Examples:
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Clinical Correlation
FB granulomas under the skin may be felt as a lump.
Most other foreign body granulomas have little, if any
clinical significance.
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References Cotran, Kumar and Robbins: Pathologic Basis of Disease,
5th Edition. W.B. Saunders & Co. 1994. pp 81
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| Foreign body granuloma
| | Synopsis by: T.V.Rajan, M.D., Ph.D. (T1X000M44140)[620]
| |