Clinical SummaryEdit
During the course of a postmortem examination of a 58-year-old female, the tongue was noted to have a number of multiple shallow ulcers. This was an incidental finding and not related to the patient's primary disease process.
ImagesEdit
This is a low-power photomicrograph showing a cross section of the tongue. There is an area along the surface of the tongue where the normal epithelium has been lost and there are areas of ulceration (arrows).
This higher-power photomicrograph shows the epithelium (1), the edge of the ulcer (2), and the ulcerated epithelium (3). There is an inflammatory exudate at the base of the ulcer and some necrotic cells where the epithelium once was present.
This is a medium-power photomicrograph of epithelium at the edge of the ulcer. Even at this power, amphophilic (dark, blue-purple-staining) intranuclear inclusion bodies can be seen in the epithelial cells. Note the inflammatory infiltrate in the subepithelium.
This is a higher-power photomicrograph of epithelium at the edge of the ulcer. Amphophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies can be seen in almost all of the epithelial cells in this section.
This is a high-power photomicrograph of epithelium near the edge of the ulcer. The cells that have been invaded by the herpes virus contain intranuclear accumulations of amphophilic viral inclusions (arrows).
An infiltrate is an accumulation of cells in the lung parenchyma--this is a sign of pneumonia.