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: BAL Findings in Lipoid Pneumonia
Figure 1: Oil red O stain shows red-stained cytoplasm of several lipid-laden alveolar macrophages
A 66 year old woman presented with a two year history of recurrent pneumonias requiring multiple hospitalizations for treatment. A chest CT revealed bilateral multifocal opacities. The patient admitted regular use of a petroleum based product in her nose at night and severe gastroesophageal reflux disease. A bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed in the right lower lobe. The BAL revealed significant Oil red O staining of alveolar macrophages (approximately 20% in Figure 1) consistent with exogenous lipid, suggesting recurrent microaspiration.
Aarthi Ganesh, MD; Rebecca Millius, MD and Linda Snyder, MD
Departments of Medicine and Pathology
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Reference as: Ganesh A, Millius R, Snyder L. Medical image of the week: findings in lipoid pneumonia. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care 2013;6(2):82. PDF