Lung infarction secondary to infected pulmonary arterial thrombosis in a patient with Eisenmenger's syndrome.

A case is presented where a patient with Eisenmenger's syndrome is successfully treated for infection of chronic pulmonary arterial thrombosis with good effect. The evidence for antibiotic and anticoagulant therapy in this patient group is discussed.

Non-surgical management of an abrupt cavitation and large oval-shaped lung abscess secondary to acute thromboembolic pulmonary infarction: a case report.

Infected cavitating pulmonary infarction is a rare complication of pulmonary embolism with a high mortality rate. Surgical excision for this complication has been used in past decades. Abrupt cavitation and a large oval-shaped lung abscess caused by acute thromboembolic pulmonary infarction during anticoagulation are rare. We present a 70-year-old man who suffered from pleuritic pain and breathlessness, accompanied by nausea and vomiting for 1 day. A physical examination showed tachycardia and tachypnea with moist rales in the left upper chest. High D-dimer levels, leukocytosis, respiratory failure and left upper lobe consolidation were found on plain computed tomography (CT). CT pulmonary angiography was performed 2 days after the previous CT scan because pulmonary embolism was suspected. This scan showed emboli in the main, right upper, middle, lower and left upper pulmonary arteries with deteriorated left upper lobe consolidation and cavitation. Thromboembolic pulmonary infarction and an abscess were diagnosed. Enoxaparin 60 mg was administered every 12 hours for 10 days, followed by rivaroxaban, antibiotics and drainage of the hydrothorax. The patient improved after the strategy of non-surgical treatment and was discharged approximately 1 month later. The patient had an uneventful course during rivaroxaban 20 mg once daily for 1 year.

Postoperative cavitating infarction following lobectomy: the importance of variant pulmonary anatomy.

A 75-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with haemoptysis, fever and shortness of breath. She had undergone a right video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery upper lobectomy for an apical lung cancer 4 weeks earlier, and had been treated with antibiotics for 1 week prior to admission for a suspected postoperative lung abscess. Review of preoperative imaging found that she possessed a lobar pulmonary artery variant, with postoperative imaging confirming that the right lower lobe segmental pulmonary artery had been divided alongside the upper lobe vessels. The diagnosis of a lung abscess was thus revised to a cavitating pulmonary infarct. There are numerous variations of the pulmonary vasculature, all of which have the potential to cause a range of serious vascular complications if not appreciated preoperatively. Measures to mitigate the risk of complications resulting from vascular anomalies should be considered by both radiologists and surgeons, with effective lines of communication essential to safe working.

Patterns of organizing pneumonia and microinfarcts as surrogate for endothelial disruption and microangiopathic thromboembolic events in patients with coronavirus disease 2019.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate chest-computed-tomography (CT) scans in coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients for signs of organizing pneumonia (OP) and microinfarction as surrogate for microscopic thromboembolic events. METHODS: Real-time polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 patients undergoing chest-CT (non-enhanced, enhanced, pulmonary-angiography [CT-PA]) from March-April 2020 were retrospectively included (COVID-19-cohort). As control-groups served 175 patients from 2020 (cohort-2020) and 157 patients from 2019 (cohort-2019) undergoing CT-PA for pulmonary embolism (PE) during the respective time frame at our institution. Two independent readers assessed for presence and location of PE in all three cohorts. In COVID-19 patients additionally parenchymal changes typical of COVID-19 pneumonia, infarct pneumonia and OP were assessed. Inter-reader agreement and prevalence of PE in different cohorts were calculated. RESULTS: From 68 COVID-19 patients (42 female [61.8%], median age 59 years [range 32-89]) undergoing chest-CT 38 obtained CT-PA. Inter-reader-agreement was good (k = 0.781). On CT-PA, 13.2% of COVID-19 patients presented with PE whereas in the control-groups prevalence of PE was 9.1% and 8.9%, respectively (p = 0.452). Up to 50% of COVID-19 patients showed changes typical for OP. 21.1% of COVID-19 patients suspected with PE showed subpleural wedge-shaped consolidation resembling infarct pneumonia, while only 13.2% showed visible filling defects of the pulmonary artery branches on CT-PA. CONCLUSION: Despite the reported hypercoagulability in critically ill patients with COVID-19, we did not encounter higher prevalence of PE in our patient cohort compared to the control cohorts. However, patients with suspected PE showed a higher prevalence of lung changes, resembling patterns of infarct pneumonia or OP and CT-signs of pulmonary-artery hypertension.

Infarto pulmonar secundario a tromboembolia pulmonar en COVID-19 diagnosticada con angiotomografía computarizada pulmonar con energía dual / Pulmonary infarction secondary to pulmonary thromboembolism in COVID-19 diagnosed with dual-energy CT pulmonary angiography

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The "Survived Lung:" An Ultrasound Sign of "Bubbly Consolidation" Pulmonary Infarction.

Since the presence of "bubbly consolidation" (central lucencies) on a multi-slice computed tomography pulmonary angiography (MCTPA) is one of the highly specific imaging appearances of infarct secondary to pulmonary embolism, we investigated the ultrasound characteristics of these infarctions. In this study, 118 patients with MCTPA diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism were enrolled. Pulmonary infarctions were detected in 21 patients (17.7%), of which 10 (47.6%) showed the typical appearance of bubbly consolidation on MCTPA. Lung ultrasound (LUS) was performed to evaluate the characteristics of the infarcts highlighted by MCTPA. The bubbly consolidations showed a very peculiar echographic aspect represented by a triangular hypoechoic consolidation with sharp margins, the absence of air bronchograms and a mostly central roundish hyperechoic area. Air lucencies within a pulmonary infarct is hypothesized to represent the coexistence of aerated non-infarcted lung with the infarcted lung in the same lobule. The ultrasound appearance confirms this hypothesis, so we named the roundish hyperechoic area the "survived lung." This picture was found in all patients with a diagnosis of bubbly consolidation on MCTPA (100%). Χ2 between MCTPA and LUS regarding the bubbly consolidation diagnosis is 17.18 (df = 1; p value = 0.00003). Bubbly consolidations show a very typical appearance on LUS. Their detection suggests further investigations (MCTPA or point-of-care multi-organ ultrasonography).

Diagnosis of pulmonary infarction in post-mortem computed tomography and post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging-a technical note.

Pulmonary thromboembolism may be accompanied by pulmonary infarction. Even though pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a frequently found cause of death at autopsy, pulmonary infarction accompanying PTE is a less common finding and may therefore easily be misinterpreted as infectious or cancerous lung disease. Appearance of pulmonary infarction in post-mortem imaging and acquisition parameters helping to identify pulmonary infarctions are not described yet. Based on a case of a 50-year-old man who died due to PTE and presented pulmonary infarction, we suggest using a pulmonary algorithm in post-mortem computed tomography combined with post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging of the lungs using conventional T1- and T2-weighted sequences.

Multimodal indirect imaging signs of pulmonary embolism.

The clinical diagnosis of pulmonary embolism is often difficult, as symptoms range from syncope and chest pain to shock and sudden death. Adding complexity to this picture, some patients with non-diagnosed pulmonary embolism may undergo unenhanced imaging examinations for a number of reasons, including the prevention of contrast medium-related nephrotoxicity, anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, as well as due to patients' refusal or lack of venous access. In this context, radiologists' awareness and recognition of indirect signs are cornerstones in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. This article describes the indirect signs of pulmonary embolism on chest X-ray, unenhanced CT, and MRI.

Vena Cava Filter Complications / Complicaciones del uso de filtros de la vena cava

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Incidence and morphological characteristics of the reversed halo sign in patients with acute pulmonary embolism and pulmonary infarction undergoing computed tomography angiography of the pulmonary arteries.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of the reversed halo sign (RHS) in patients with pulmonary infarction (PI) due to acute pulmonary embolism (PE), detected by computed tomography angiography (CTA) of the pulmonary arteries, and to describe the main morphological features of the RHS. METHODS: We evaluated 993 CTA scans, stratified by the risk of PE, performed between January of 2010 and December of 2014. Although PE was detected in 164 scans (16.5%), three of those scans were excluded because of respiratory motion artifacts. Of the remaining 161 scans, 75 (46.6%) showed lesions consistent with PI, totaling 86 lesions. Among those lesions, the RHS was seen in 33 (38.4%, in 29 patients). RESULTS: Among the 29 patients with scans showing lesions characteristic of PI with the RHS, 25 (86.2%) had a single lesion and 4 (13.8%) had two, totaling 33 lesions. In all cases, the RHS was in a subpleural location. To standardize the analysis, all images were interpreted in the axial plane. Among those 33 lesions, the RHS was in the right lower lobe in 17 (51.5%), in the left lower lobe in 10 (30.3%), in the lingula in 5 (15.2%), and in the right upper lobe in 1 (3.0%). Among those same 33 lesions, areas of low attenuation were seen in 29 (87.9%). The RHS was oval in 24 (72.7%) of the cases and round in 9 (27.3%). Pleural effusion was seen in 21 (72.4%) of the 29 patients with PI and the RHS. CONCLUSIONS: A diagnosis of PE should be considered when there are findings such as those described here, even in patients with nonspecific clinical symptoms.