The Term "Lymphangitic Pulmonary Metastases" Resurrected

In reply

We appreciate Dr Sadoff's concise historical review of PACME and LPM. However, the point of our "Case of the Month" seems to have been missed.¹ We did not mean to portray our case as a report of a unique or heretofore undescribed disorder, nor did we intend to include a literature review or complete description of pathogenesis. We were simply pointing out that in the death in question, the autopsy provided answers to questions that arose during clinical management of the patient in question. Gaining that type of knowledge has always been a major value of the autopsy, and probably always will be. It is appropriate to be authoritative and to cite the history of disease processes in selected forums, but sometimes it is valuable and practical to explain why a specific patient died or did not respond to therapy. The autopsy can address such questions for disease entities—even those that have been know about for years.