Autopsy of a patient who died after an acute myocardial infarction shows shaggy fibrin deposits coating both epicardial surfaces of the heart, described grossly as a bread-and-butter appearance. This represents which pattern of acute inflammation?

• A Serous inflammation
• B Suppurative inflammation
• C Catarrhal inflammation
• D Fibrinous inflammation ✓

Explanation

Fibrinous inflammation occurs with greater increases in vascular permeability that allow large plasma proteins such as fibrinogen to leak through; fibrinogen polymerizes into fibrin on the surface. The classic example is fibrinous pericarditis, where fibrin strands give a bread-and-butter gross appearance. Serous inflammation involves thin, watery, relatively protein-poor fluid such as in blister fluid or a skin burn vesicle, which distinguishes it from this lesion.

Reference: Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 10th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

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