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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The January 12, 1998, "Autopsy and Medicine" Case of the Month describes the difficulty of proving pulmonary arterial carcinomatosis microemboli vs recurrent pulmonary embolism.¹ The premortem diagnosis may have been established using right heart catheterization.²

Robert E. Johnson, MD
Framingham, Mass

1. Pfeifer EA, Bjornsson J, Hanzlick R and the Autopsy Committee of the College of American Pathologists. Autopsy and Medicine: Case of the Month. Arch Intern Med. 1998;158:14. FREE FULL TEXT 2. Masson RG, Krikorian J, Lukl P, Evans GL, McGrath J. Pulmonary microvascular cytology in the diagnosis of lymphangitic carcinomatosis. N Engl J Med. 1989;321:71-76. ABSTRACT

In reply

We thank Johnson for reminding us that in some cases, pulmonary arterial and lymphatic carcinomatosis may be diagnosed prior to death using right heart catheterization and cytologic examination of withdrawn blood.¹ The authors of the referenced study conclude, however, that malignant cells in blood obtained from the procedure constitute presumptive evidence of intravascular carcinomatosis and do not advocate the procedure as the diagnostic method of choice. Regardless, in the case we reported, such tests were not performed and autopsy was required to make the diagnosis, which was a major point of our case report.² We would also like to point out that in the study Johnson cites, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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