Caseous necrosis

Caseous necrosis
Micrograph showing caseous necrosis of a tuberculous lymph node. H&E stain. Histological specimens are normally obtained from supraclavicular lymph nodes to demonstrate caseous necrosis.
Subpleural caseous necrosis (Ghon focus)
SpecialtyPathology
ComplicationsLung cavity
CausesTuberculosis

Caseous necrosis or caseous degeneration[1] (/ˈksiəs/)[2] is a unique form of cell death in which the tissue maintains a cheese-like appearance.[3] Unlike with coagulative necrosis, tissue structure is destroyed. Caseous necrosis is enclosed within a granuloma. Caseous necrosis is most notably associated with tuberculoma. The dead tissue appears as a soft and white proteinaceous dead cell mass.

The term caseous means 'pertaining or related to cheese',[4] and comes from the Latin word caseus 'cheese'.[2]

  1. ^ "caseous degeneration". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  2. ^ a b "Caseous | Meaning of Caseous by Lexico". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on September 3, 2021.
  3. ^ Robbins and Cotran: Pathologic Basis of Disease, 8th Ed. 2010. Pg. 16
  4. ^ "caseous - WordReference.com Dictionary of English". www.wordreference.com.