Imaging
Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology.
The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend. Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology. The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend.
Medical Image of the Week: Lymphangitic Carcinomatosis
Figure 1. Mass like consolidation and interlobular septal thickening (arrows).
A 64-year-old woman, never-smoker, was evaluated for shortness of breath and left leg swelling. An abnormal initial chest X-Ray lead to computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest. She was also diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of her left leg.
CT of the chest with intravenous contrast showed a mass-like consolidation in the right upper lobe and thickening of the peripheral interlobular septa and of the bronchovascular bundles consistent with lymphangitic carcinomatosis (Figure 1). Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) guided transbronchial needle aspirations of the station 10 R Lymph node were positive for adenocarcinoma of lung origin.
Lymphangitic carcinomatosis occurs when cancer cells spread along the pulmonary lymphatic system and result in thickening of the bronchovascular bundle, the interlobular septa, or both (1). Histopathologically, specimens show interlobular and subpleural interstitial desmoplastic thickening and obstruction of lymphatic vessels by tumor cells. It carries a poor prognosis.
Mohammad R. Dalabih, MBBS1 and Joshua Malo, MD2
1Pulmonary Consultants LLC, Tacoma, WA USA
2Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care. And Sleep, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ USA
Reference
- Munk PL, Müller NL, Miller RR, Ostrow DN. Pulmonary lymphangitic carcinomatosis: CT and pathologic findings. Radiology. 1988 Mar;166(3):705-9. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Cite as: Dalabih MR, Malo J. Medical image of the week: lymphangitic cacinomatosis. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2017;14(5):240. doi: https://doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc053-17 PDF