Averill Abraham Liebow

Averill Abraham Liebow (March 31, 1911 – May 31, 1978) was an international leader on the pathology of the lung. He is credited with the development of a classification system for lung disease. Averill Liebow became a U.S. citizen in 1926.

Liebow graduated magnum cum laude from City College of New York, and received his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine in 1935. In 1968 he accepted the chairmanship of the department of pathology at the University of California, San Diego, which he held until his retirement in 1975.

Contributions to pulmonary pathology Liebow was one of the leading world experts in pulmonary pathology. He described many new pulmonary entities.

Liebow's interest pulmonary circulation continued throughout his career. The physiology of hypervolemic and neurogenic pulmonary edema was studied in his laboratory. He described important aspects of vascular pathology in pulmonary emphysema, notably the expansion of the bronchial venous collateral circulation. Experimental pulmonary arterial hypertension (aorta to pulmonary artery shunt) and effects of hyperkinesis (total pulmonary flow diverted to one lung) were shown to be reliable models for human pulmonary hypertension. Their landmark histopathologic classification schema for IIPs consisted of five patterns: usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), bronchiolitis obliterans interstitial pneumonia and diffuse alveolar damage, desquamative interstitial pneumonia, lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia (LIP), and giant cell interstitial pneumonia.

Liebow became the foremost consultant in lung pathology in the United States. Several of his descriptive analyses represent the original definition of previously unrecognized conditions. Written in collaboration with Shields Warren, the report is considered a milestone in atomic and radiation pathology. Among his published works are:

Liebow, A. A. (1949). Pathology of atomic bomb casualties. Ann Arbor. Liebow, A. A. (1952). Tumors of the lower respiratory tract. Washington: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Lindskog, G. E., & Liebow, A. A. (1953). Thoracic surgery and related pathology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Liebow, A. A., & Hubbell, D. S. (1956). Sclerosing hemangioma (histiocytoma, xanthoma) of the lung. Cancer, 9(1), 53–75. Rosen, S. H., Castleman, B., Liebow, A. A., Enzinger, F. M., & Hunt, R. T. (1958). Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. New England Journal of Medicine, 258(23), 1123–1142. Carrington, C. B., & Liebow, A. A. (1966). Limited forms of angiitis and granulomatosis of Wegener's type. The American journal of medicine, 41(4), 497–527. Liebow, A. A., & In Smith, D. E. (1968). The Lung. Baltimore, Md: Williams & Wilkins. Spencer, H., & Liebow, A. A. (1968). Pathology of the lung . Oxford, Braunschweig: Pergamon Pr. Liebow A. A., & Carrington D. B. The interstitial pneumonias. In: Simon M, Potchen EJ, LeMay M, editors. Frontiers of pulmonary radiology. New York: Grune & Stratteon. (1969) pp. 102–141. Liebow, A. A. (1970). Encounter with disaster: A medical diary of Hiroshima, 1945. New York: Norton. Liebow, A. A. (1972). Lymphomatoid granulomatosis. California medicine, 116(5), 48. Bahadori, M., & Liebow, A. A. (1973). Plasma cell granulomas of the lung. Cancer, 31(1), 191–208. Liebow, A. A. (1973). The J. Burns Amberson lecture—pulmonary angiitis and granulomatosis. American Review of Respiratory Disease, 108(1), 1–18. Glenn, W. W. L., Liebow, A. A., & Lindskog, G. E. (1975). Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery with related pathology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Corrin, B., Liebow, A. A., & Friedman, P. J. (1975). Pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis. A review. The American journal of pathology, 79(2), 348. Katzenstein, A. L. A., Carrington, C. B., & Liebow, A. A. (1979). Lymphomatoid granulomatosis. A clinicopathologic study of 152 cases. Cancer, 43(1), 360–373. Bloor, C. M., & Liebow, A. A. (1980). The pulmonary and bronchial circulations in congenital heart disease. New York: Plenum Medical Book Co.