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Following the introduction of a novel pathological concept of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) by Liebow and Carrington in 1969, diffuse interstitial pneumonia has evolved into UIP, nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), and interstitial lung abnormality (ILA); the histopathological and CT findings of these conditions reflect the required multidisciplinary team approach, involving pulmonologists, radiologists, and pathologists, for their diagnosis and management. Concomitantly, traction bronchiectasis and bronchiolectasis have been recognized as the most persistent and important indices of the severity and prognosis of fibrotic lung diseases. The traction bronchiectasis index (TBI) can stratify the prognoses of patients with ILAs. In this review, the evolutionary concepts of UIP, NSIP, and ILAs are summarized in tables and figures, with a demonstration of the correlation between CT findings and pathologic evaluation. The CT-based UIP score is being proposed to facilitate a better understanding of the spectrum of pulmonary fibrosis, from ILAs to UIP, with emphasis on traction bronchiectasis/bronchiolectasis.

Synchronous primary lung cancers are relatively rare. The accurate diagnosis remains challenging, despite of the routine use of bronchoscopy and computed tomography (CT) of the chest. Herein we report a case of synchronous triple primary cancers of the right lung in a 72-year-old male patient in whom each tumor presented distinct CT imaging findings.

We report the dynamic contrast-enhanced CT and histopathologic findings of a rare case of recurrent pulmonary capillary hemangiomas. The findings consisted of peripheral nodular enhancement at the early arterial phase and a subsequent "central filling-in" enhancement pattern on the delayed scans, which was identical to the well-known enhancement pattern of hemangiomas of the liver. Although there was no evidence of histological malignancy, pulmonary capillary hemangiomas manifested as multiple nodular lesions and showed postoperative recurrence.

We report a rare case of primary pulmonary low-grade angiosarcoma on dynamic contrast-enhanced CT and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT imaging. A 38-year-old, asymptomatic woman was hospitalized because of an abnormality on chest radiography. A dynamic contrast-enhanced chest CT showed a 1.2 cm-sized irregular-margined nodule with strong and persistent enhancement in the right lower lobe. The lesion had low metabolic activity on an (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan. The patient underwent a wedge resection for the lesion, and pathology revealed a primary pulmonary low-grade angiosarcoma.

Objective We wanted to demonstrate and compare the serial high-resolution CTs (HRCT) and the pulmonary function test (PFT) findings of the usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) and the non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP). Materials and Methods The serial HRCT scans and the PFT results were retrospectively analysed and compared for 35 patients having UIP without significant honeycombing (UIP-w/o hc, < 5% of honeycombing at CT), 35 patients having UIP with honeycombing (UIP-w/i hc, ≥ 5% of honeycombing), and 25 patients with NSIP. The mortality rates were also compared. Follow-up CT scans were available in 75 patients (29 UIP-w/o hc patients, 22 UIP-w/i hc patients and 24 NSIP patients) and the follow-up periods ranged from 150 to 2,370 days. The initial and follow-up PFT data were available for 71 patients. Results On the initial CT, significant differences were present between the UIP-w/i hc patients and both the UIP-w/o hc patients and the NSIP patients in the overall extent, ground-glass opacity (GGO) away from the reticulation, reticulation and honeycombing (all p < 0.05). Improvement was noticed in five (17%) of 29 UIP-w/o hc patients, none of 22 UIP-w/i hc patients, and 9 (37%) of 24 NSIP patients; deterioration was noted in six (21%) UIP-w/o hc patients, two (9%) UIP-w/i hc patients and three (13%) NSIP patients (p = 0.044 between UIP-w/o and UIP-w/i hc; p = 0.637 between UIP-w/o hc and NSIP; p = 0.007 between UIP-w/i hc and NSIP). The serial changes of the pulmonary function in the NSIP patients were different from those noted for the UIP-w/i hc and UIP-w/o hc patients (p = 0.440 between UIP-w/o and UIP-w/i hc; p = 0.022 between UIP-w/o hc and NSIP; p = 0.003 between UIP-w/i hc and NSIP). Five (14%) of the 35 patients with UIP-w/o hc, 16 (46%) of the 35 patients with UIP-w/i hc and three (12%) of the 25 patients with NSIP died (p = 0.002, comparison for the three groups). Conclusion On CT, NSIP and UIP-w/o hc patients have similar patterns of parenchymal abnormalities and a similar likelihood of change in the extent of disease on follow-up. Patients with UIP-w/i hc have distinctive features and a worst prognosis.

We report a rare case of primary pulmonary low-grade angiosarcoma on dynamic contrast-enhanced CT and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT imaging. A 38-year-old, asymptomatic woman was hospitalized because of an abnormality on chest radiography. A dynamic contrast-enhanced chest CT showed a 1.2 cm-sized irregular-margined nodule with strong and persistent enhancement in the right lower lobe. The lesion had low metabolic activity on an (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan. The patient underwent a wedge resection for the lesion, and pathology revealed a primary pulmonary low-grade angiosarcoma.

1Radiology and Center for Imaging, 2 Pathology, and 3 Thoracic Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 135-710, Korea Diffuse pulmonary lymphangiomatosis (DPL) is a rare lymphatic disorder characterized by lymphatic channel proliferation. It is mostly reported in children and young adults. Here, we report a case involving a 52-year-old asymptomatic woman who presented with increased interstitial markings, as seen on a chest radiograph. Diffuse interstitial septal thickening was found on a serial follow-up chest computed tomography scan, and lymphangitic metastasis was the primary radiologic differential diagnosis. However, histologic sections of wedge resected lung revealed diffuse pleural and interlobular septal lymphatic proliferation characteristic of DPL. Index terms: Lymphangiomatosis; Interstitial; Lung; Computed tomography

A pulmonary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma is an extremely rare tumor that is considered to be a cystic variant of mucin-producing lung adenocarcinoma. We present a case of pulmonary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma in a 54-year-old woman. Chest CT scans showed a 4.3-cm-sized, lobulated, well-defined, and homogeneous mass in the right middle lobe with peripheral stippled calcifications that demonstrated low-attenuation with no enhancement after contrast administration; (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT demonstrated mild heterogeneous FDG uptake. The mass was diagnosed as adenocarcinoma with mucin production by transbronchial lung biopsy. Right middle lobectomy was performed, and the pathologic examination disclosed a pulmonary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma.

A fibroepithelial polyp of the bronchus is a rare, benign, and endobronchial tumor, histologically consisting of fibrovascular stroma covered by normal respiratory epithelium. We report a case of a fibroepithelial polyp arising from the left main bronchus. On CT, a characteristic lobulating contour of the endobronchial nodule was well visualized, which histopathologically represented a typical papillary growth pattern of the nodule. Such a lobulating contour of the nodule might help make a correct diagnosis of this rare disease among other various endobronchial neoplasms.

Thymic epithelial tumor is a distinctive pathologic entity exhibiting variable histologic features and heterogeneous oncologic behavior. Among the various classification systems, that of the World Health Organization has been adopted because of good correlation between histologic appearance and oncologic behavior. Radiologically, a smooth contour and round shape are most suggestive of a type-A tumor, whereas an irregular contour most strongly suggests type C. Pleural seeding is rare in type-A and AB tumors; calcification is suggestive of type B. Type-C tumors are significantly larger and more commonly associated with lymphadenopathy than type B3. At T2-weighted MR imaging, lobular internal architecture is more prominent in types B1, B2, and B3 tumors than in others. However, imaging findings among the various types overlap to some extent, and the ability of imaging studies to differentiate types AB, B1, B2, and B3 is limited.