Ghon's complex
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Ghon's complex is a part of the progression of the infectious respiratory disease commonly known as tuberculosis. Specifically, the Ghon's complex is a combination of the Ghon's focus (area of initial infection by airborne bacillus) and a lymphatic lesion. Approximately two to three weeks after the Ghon's focus has developed, the area undergoes caseous (cheeselike) necrosis. Free tubercle bacilli, or bacilli within macrophages drain out from the area towards the affected lungs' lymph nodes. It is in this location, at the lymph nodes, that the bacilli will form caseous granulomas. This, in combination with the initial area of infection, will make up the Ghon's complex.
See Ghon focus
[edit] References
Porth, Carol Mattson. Pathophysiology:Concepts of Altered Health States, 7th edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005.
Ghon complex is a part of the progression of the infectious respiratory disease commonly known as tuberculosis. It is also seen in infection by the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum endiemic to the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. In tuberculosis, the Ghon complex is a combination of the Ghon focus (area of initial infection by airborne bacillus) and a lymphatic lesion. Approximately two to three weeks after the Ghon focus has developed, the area undergoes caseous (cheeselike) necrosis. Free tubercle bacilli, or bacilli within macrophages drain out from the area towards the affected lungs' lymph nodes. It is in this location, at the lymph nodes, that the bacilli will form caseous granulomas. This, in combination with the initial area of infection, will make up the Ghon's complex. Typically these areas heal with calcification visible on chest X-ray, with the two causes virtually indistinguishable.
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