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: Lung Cancer with Vascular Invasion
Figure 1. Panel A: Representative axial view of the thoracic CT scan showing tumor invading the left atrium via the right superior pulmonary vein (arrow). Panel B: Coronal view showing tumor invasion (arrow).
A 73-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with seizures and a subacute history of mild dyspnea on exertion. Her admission chest x-ray demonstrated a large right upper lobe lung mass, and MRI of the brain demonstrated multiple bilateral enhancing lesions concerning for a cardiac embolic source. Representative axial (Figure 1A) and coronal (Figure 1B) images from her chest CT scan demonstrate tumor invading the left atrium via the right superior pulmonary vein (arrow). The tumor was confirmed to be small cell carcinoma of the lung.
Joshua Malo, MD and Franz Rischard, DO
Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Reference as: Malo J, Rischard F. Medical image of the week: lung cancer with vascular invasion. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2014;8(4):235. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc040-14 PDF