Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Pulmonary metastases are common—present at autopsy in 20% to 54% of patients with extrapulmonary malignancy. The most common primary sites associated with pulmonary metastases in biopsy series are the breast, colon, kidney, uterus, bladder, melanoma, and…
Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Inflammatory pseudotumor, also known as inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, is a quasineoplastic lesion that clinically and radiologically tends to mimic a malignant neoplasm and that histologically consists of a mixture of inflammatory cells, myofibroblastic spindle cells, and…
Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Pulmonary hamartomas are benign neoplasms, probably derived from bronchial wall mesenchymal cells. Hamartomas are the most common benign pulmonary neoplasm and account for about 8% of primary lung tumors. Although they may be seen in adolescents…
Neuroendocrine Hyperplasia and Pulmonary Tumorlets Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Normal lung tissue contains scattered neuroendocrine (Kulchitsky) cells within the bronchial and bronchiolar epithelium. These cells play a role in the detection of hypoxia as well as fetal lung development and…
Parasites are defined as organisms that live in or on another living organism, obtain part or all of their organic nutriment from that organism, and cause some degree of damage to their host. Parasitic infestations occur mainly in tropical and…
Viruses are the most common cause of respiratory infection and may result in rhinitis, pharyngitis, laryngotracheitis, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, and, less commonly, pneumonia. Most viral pneumonias in immunocompetent adults are due to influenza viruses; other common viral etiologies include respiratory syncytial…
Etiology, Prevalence, and Epidemiology Pneumonia and influenza represent the eighth leading cause of mortality in the United States, with an estimated 1.3 million hospital admissions yearly attributable to pneumonia in patients older than 65 years. Although pneumonia affects all ages,…
Congenital lung disease remains a confusing topic owing to ever-changing histopathologic understanding of the various entities and frequent updates to antiquated clinical and pathologic classification schemes. Past classifications have been based on thoracic anatomic structures, dividing lesions into congenital malformations…
Diseases that cause a decrease in lung density result in increased radiolucency (hyperlucency) on chest radiography and decreased attenuation on computed tomography (CT). Decreased lung density may result from obstructive overinflation without lung destruction (e.g., asthma, constrictive bronchiolitis), overinflation with…
Many diseases involve predominantly or exclusively the pulmonary interstitium. The differential diagnosis of the various entities on the chest radiograph and computed tomography (CT) is based on the pattern and distribution of abnormalities and on the presence of associated findings,…