Pulmonary cysts associated with calcified nodules

Abstract

A 57-year-old woman presented with a two-month history of cough and dry mouth. A CT scan of the chest showed multiple cysts and calcified nodules (Figure 1). The patient presented with two basic CT patterns: multiple pulmonary cysts and calcified pulmonary nodules. The differential diagnosis of diffuse pulmonary cysts is extensive and includes neoplastic, inflammatory, and infectious diseases. Primary causes of diffuse pulmonary cysts include lymphangioleiomyomatosis, Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome, Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia (LIP). Multiple pulmonary nodules have numerous etiologies. However, the combined presence of multiple pulmonary nodules and calcifications narrows the diagnostic possibilities, which include calcified metastases, amyloidosis, hyalinizing granulomas, epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, rheumatoid nodules, and multiple chondromas, as well as calcifications resulting from residual granulomatous lesions, particularly tuberculous lesions. (1-3)