Keywords:
Haematologic, Lung, Thorax, CT, Biopsy, Radiation therapy / Oncology, Lymphoma
Authors:
D. Cozzi1, C. Dini1, F. Mungai1, B. puccini1, L. Rigacci2, V. Miele1; 1Florence/IT, 2Firenze/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-0511
Aims and objectives
Primary pulmonary lymphoma (PPL) is defined as a malignant lymphoid proliferation within the lung parenchima in a patient without any detectable extra-pulmonary involvement [1-4].
PPL is a rare disease,
representing 3-4% of extranodal lymphomas and 0.5-1% of all primary lung cancers.
PPLs can be MALT lymphoma (the most common type,
60-90% of all PPLs) or other Non-Hodgkin or Hodgkin lymphoma.
The second most common subtype is Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL,
10-20%) [5,6].
Clinical findings are often unspecific or absent and,
in asymptomatic patients,
incidental radiological findings may be the first assessment.
Chest Computed Tomography (CT) examination has a crucial role in identifying and better recognize thoracic alterations in these patients [1,6,7].
FDG-PET has a role only in MALT lymphoma with 50-90% of positive results [7,8].
Making a radiological diagnosis of PPL is challenging because of the multiple and variable CT findings and the tricky different diagnosis.
Therefore,
the aim of this study was to describe the predominant CT pattern of our cases of PPLs,
focusing on the radiological features in order to contribute to the difficult role of the radiologist in the disease identification and help the clinicians to reach the diagnosis.