Great AM report by Dr. Liza Buchbinder! Today we presented a patient who was found to have an anterior mediastinal mass and multiple cavitary pulmonary lesions.

Learning points:

• There is a broad differential for multiple pulmonary nodules, which may be narrowed based on CT characteristics.
• When describing lung lesions on imaging, consider the following characteristics:
  • Pattern: reticular, nodular, or reticulonodular
  • Density of lesions: hypodense (COPD vs. cysts) vs. hyperdense (ground-glass vs. airspace consolidation)
  • Distribution: Central vs. peripheral, upper vs. lower
  • Relationship to secondary lobule: Are lesions perilymphatic, centrilobular, or random?
• A nice primer on reading CTs
• Specifically for cavitary lung lesions, consider:
  • Infection: bacterial abscess, fungal disease (mycobacterial, cocci, histo), septic emboli
  • Malignancy:  lymphoproliferative, SCC, angiosarcoma, Kaposi’s Sarcoma
  • Collagen vascular disease: GPA.

Have a great weekend and continue the great work!