The paper describes an autopsy case of a 69-year-old woman with microscopic polyangiitis lasting about 1.5 months despite intensive treatment. She had generalized productive vasculitis, extracapillary productive glomerulonephritis, adult respiratory distress syndrome with focal pneumonia, isolated lung atelectasis, splenic infarction, and toe and finger gangrene. Morphological differences from those of granulomatosis with polyangiitis and Churg-Strauss syndrome are presented.