Cavitary Pulmonary Metastases

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The primary tumors were five adenocarcinomas of the colon, two epidermoid carcinomas of the larynx, an undifferentiated tumor of un certain origin, and a transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. The number of cavitary lesions in each patient varied from one to twenty - five; two patients had solitary lesions. The size of the lesions ranged from two millimeters to seven centimeters in diameter, and the wall thickness varied from one millimeter to 1.5 centimeters. Most of the lesions had thin walls and appeared ring-like. It is probable that the lesions are not as rare as the low number of cases reported would suggest. In the present series the diagnosis of metastatic disease was considered only by radiologists who had seen cavitary metastatic pul monary lesions previously. Most metastatic pulmonary lesions do not communicate with a bronchus, and negative Papanicolaou smears from the sputum of patients with metastatic pulmonary disease, solid or cavitary, is the rule. It is suggested that physicochemical changes in the center of the metastatic lesions may determine whether the appear - ance of the lesion will be cavitary or solid on X-ray.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: