Pulmonary glomus tumour: a case initially diagnosed as carcinoid tumour.

Pulmonary glomus tumours are rare lesions, with few cases reported previously. Herein, we present the clinical and pathological features of a case of pulmonary glomus tumour. A 29-year-old female patient presented to our clinic complaining of cough, dyspnoea and left-sided chest pain. Computed tomography (CT) of the thorax revealed a nodular lesion causing obstruction of the left main bronchus. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy demonstrated a polypoid mass occluding the left main bronchus 10 mm distal to the main carina. Bronchoscopic biopsy was interpreted histologically as carcinoid tumour. Bronchotomy plus mass extirpation was performed with left thoracotomy. Microscopically, a tumoral structure composed of uniform cells with a round centrally located nucleolus and narrow eosinophilic cytoplasm was seen. Thin-walled vessels lined with endothelium were interspersed between tumoral structures. The cells were stained chromogranin and cytokeratin negative and strongly vimentin positive. The pathological diagnosis for the thoracotomy specimen was pulmonary glomus tumour. Follow-up chest CT was negative for recurrent tumour and the patient remains free of disease 17 months after surgery.

Cavitary sarcoidosis: analysis of two cases.

The most commonly encountered radiological finding in sarcoidosis is bilateral hilar lymph node enlargement. Cavitation is extremely rare and the acute cavitary form is seen infrequently in young adults with acinar or nodular sarcoidosis. This unusual form of sarcoidosis may be misdiagnosed and treated as tuberculosis in countries where the prevalence of tuberculosis is high. Herein, we report on two patients with cavitary sarcoidosis who had been misdiagnosed and treated for tuberculosis.

CT- guided transthoracic fine needle aspiration of pulmonary lesions: accuracy and complications in 294 patients.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the effectiveness of CT-guided transthoracic fine needle aspiration in the diagnosis of pulmonary lesions and to determine the complication rate of this procedure. MATERIAL/METHODS: A prospective review was undertaken of 316 patients who underwent CT-guided transthoracic fine needle aspiration performed at our center between October 2000 and April 2001. Twenty-two patients were excluded because no final diagnosis was achieved. The present study included 294 patients. All fine needle aspirations were performed with a 22-gauge aspirating needle under CT guidance. RESULTS: An accurate diagnosis was made in 228 of 259 malignant lung lesions (88%). A specific diagnosis was obtained in 34.3% of the benign lesions. The sensitivity for malignancy and specificity for benign lesions were 88% and 100%, respectively. Positive and negative predictive values were 100% and 53%, respectively. There was no false-positive diagnosis for malignancy. Sensitivity was 87% for centrally located lesions and 89.3% for peripherally located lesions (p>0.05). Complications included pneumothorax, 24 of 294 cases (8.2%); chest tube, 3 cases (12.5%); minor hemoptysis, 5 cases (1.7%); and pulmonary hemorrhage, 4 cases (1.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that this procedure has high diagnostic accuracy and an acceptable rate of complications.