CVP and GI Pathology Exam 3 Practice

Curschmann's spirals are mucus plugs that contain shed bronchial epithelium, forming spiral casts in the small airways of patients with severe asthma. This occurs because chronic inflammation and mucus hypersecretion lead to desquamation of the lining cells and accumulation of mucus, which can coil into these spiral shapes and be expelled in sputum. That description is the best match for what is seen clinically as Curschmann's spirals.

Charcot-Leyden crystals, while often present in asthma, are crystals formed from eosinophil breakdown products and represent a separate finding rather than the mucus-epithelial casts themselves. Eosinophils are important inflammatory cells in asthma but are not the spirals. A viral URI is not related to the formation of these mucus casts.