Degeneration of the costovertebral articulation: a cause of pulmonary pseudolesion.

The objective was to report examples of degeneration of the costovertebral articulation producing a pulmonary pseudolesion. Three cases in which a nodular opacity seen on plain radiograph was determined to be secondary to degeneration of the costovertebral articulation were compiled, one of which was confirmed by CT. Pseudolesions produced by degenerative osteophytes of the vertebral spine and anomalous articulations between transverse processes are more commonly identified, but less well described is the pseudolesion produced by degeneration of the costovertebral articulation. Recognition of this etiology may prevent misconstruing the lesion as a significant finding.