Lung CT: Part 1, Mimickers of lung cancer--spectrum of CT findings with pathologic correlation.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to describe CT findings of miscellaneous pulmonary conditions that mimic lung cancers, especially primary cancers, to improve diagnosis of pulmonary lesions. Brief descriptions of patient clinical information and pathologic findings will be included and correlated with imaging findings in actual cases. CONCLUSION: A wide variety of pulmonary conditions present imaging features that mimic those of primary lung cancers and are difficult to differentiate from cancer. Awareness of these conditions with an understanding of their pathologic background and careful attention to the clinical information will help achieve correct diagnoses.

A huge fecalith associated with dialysis-related gastrointestinal amyloidosis.

A 60-year-old man who had been receiving dialysis for more than 30 years was admitted for treatment of cellulitis in his right thigh on November 7, 2003. He suffered from an ileus on December 14 and was found to have a huge, 7-cm-diameter, well-circumscribed fecalith, incarcerated at the splenic flexure of the colon. It was proving difficult to pass this naturally and surgical removal was thought to be too risky. Using a colonoscope and a water-jet probe, the fecalith was broken up; the ileus then improved and the patient was able to take oral fluids. Unfortunately, he died of cardiac failure on February 13, 2004. We conducted an autopsy, with his family's consent, and found generalized amyloidosis. Deposits of amyloid were seen in all layers of the colon. Because of this, we hypothesized that peristalsis had been poor and this had led to paralytic ileus due to stasis, which, in turn, had led to the formation of the huge fecalith. In Japan it is not rare for a patient to be on dialysis for more than 25 years and it may be that this is a cause of generalized amyloidosis. There have been no such cases of fecalith associated with gastrointestinal amyloidosis described previously, which is why we decided to report this case here.