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Michael Bannon, Elements: in this month's issue, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Volume 105, Issue 6, June 2012, Pages 501–502, https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcs096
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Extract
Fibrosis
Editor's choice
I am pleased to draw your attention to the start of another miniseries in the journal, this time on the subject of fibrosis. Prof. Seamus Donnelly is the guest editor and in his introduction he describes the aim and scope of the series. Fibrosis of any tissue represents a healing response to an injury. In most cases, complete tissue repair is achieved with normal organ functioning. However, if a single injury is severe enough or if chronic repetitive injury takes place, permanent tissue damage with resulting fibrosis may result. It is a complex area representing an interplay between inflammation and dysfunction of the normal tissue repair processes following injury. How and why fibrosis happens is the subject of much debate and current research. It would seem appropriate therefore that the first paper in this series by Prof. Bucala should focus on the fibrocyte, a key player in a pathway that ranges from chronic inflammation to deposition of collagen. Further papers in this series will consider fibrosis of the liver, kidney, lung and heart.