Smoking-related Interstitial Fibrosis (SRIF)
Smoking-related interstitial fibrosis (SRIF) is an abnormality in the lungs characterized by excessive collagen deposition within the walls of the alveoli, air sacs (interstitial fibrosis). This abnormality can be seen with a microscope and diagnosed by pathologists. It is caused by cigarette smoking. The term SRIF was coined by Dr. Anna-Luise Katzenstein (a pathologist) and colleagues in 2010 in a study of lung specimens surgically removed for lung cancer. Since then, other investigators have confirmed the same abnormality in the lungs of a subset of smokers. Definition The defining feature of smoking-related interstitial fibrosis is a distinctive/unique type of fibrosis characterized by "ropey" collagen bundles within the walls of the air sacs (alveoli), almost always in association with other smoking-related abnormalities such as pigmented macrophages and emphysema. Clinical symptoms Most cases of SRIF are discovered incidentally by pathologists examining lung tissue from l ...
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