Disorders of the Pleura, Mediastinum, and Hilum

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D Lerner ◽  
David Feller-Kopman

The pleura are a composition of two serous membranes: the visceral pleura lining the lungs and the parietal pleura lining the inner chest wall, diaphragm, and mediastinum. The pulmonary hilum is composed of blood vessels, airways, nerves, and lymph nodes and denotes the meeting point between the mediastinum and the pleural cavities. This review covers disorders of the pleura, mediastinum, and hilum. Figures show a schematic diagram of normal filtration/resorption of fluid in the pleural space; comparison of a simultaneously obtained chest x-ray (CXR) and a chest computed tomographic (CT) scan of the same patient; an algorithm for evaluation of patients with pleural effusion (PE); a three-compartment model of mediastinal anatomy; photographs of a resected, well-encapsulated thymoma and a benign, multiloculated thymic cyst that were completely removed by sternotomy, a resected esophageal duplication cyst, and an esophageal leiomyoma being removed by means of a right thoracotomy; CT scans demonstrating the characteristic appearance of an invasive thymoma, an extragonadal germ cell tumor, a primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma, a goiter with extension behind the trachea, right paratracheal adenopathy in the middle mediastinal compartment, a middle mediastinal cystic mass, a large subcarinal bronchogenic cyst, a tracheal chondrosarcoma, gas in the mediastinum due to esophageal perforation, and mediastinal fibrosis; coronal imaging showing a large, smooth muscle tumor associated with the distal esophagus; a barium swallow showing a large esophageal perforation that resulted in soilage of the middle mediastinum; and posteroanterior and lateral CXRs of a posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumor accompanied by a CT scan showing the posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumor visualized in the posteroanterior radiograph.  This review contains 19 figures, 51 tables, and 83 references. Keywords:  Mediastinum, mediastinitis, pleural effusion, empyema, congestive heart failure, adenopathy, thymoma, esophageal perforation  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D Lerner ◽  
David Feller-Kopman

The pleura are a composition of two serous membranes: the visceral pleura lining the lungs and the parietal pleura lining the inner chest wall, diaphragm, and mediastinum. The pulmonary hilum is composed of blood vessels, airways, nerves, and lymph nodes and denotes the meeting point between the mediastinum and the pleural cavities. This review covers disorders of the pleura, mediastinum, and hilum. Figures show a schematic diagram of normal filtration/resorption of fluid in the pleural space; comparison of a simultaneously obtained chest x-ray (CXR) and a chest computed tomographic (CT) scan of the same patient; an algorithm for evaluation of patients with pleural effusion (PE); a three-compartment model of mediastinal anatomy; photographs of a resected, well-encapsulated thymoma and a benign, multiloculated thymic cyst that were completely removed by sternotomy, a resected esophageal duplication cyst, and an esophageal leiomyoma being removed by means of a right thoracotomy; CT scans demonstrating the characteristic appearance of an invasive thymoma, an extragonadal germ cell tumor, a primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma, a goiter with extension behind the trachea, right paratracheal adenopathy in the middle mediastinal compartment, a middle mediastinal cystic mass, a large subcarinal bronchogenic cyst, a tracheal chondrosarcoma, gas in the mediastinum due to esophageal perforation, and mediastinal fibrosis; coronal imaging showing a large, smooth muscle tumor associated with the distal esophagus; a barium swallow showing a large esophageal perforation that resulted in soilage of the middle mediastinum; and posteroanterior and lateral CXRs of a posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumor accompanied by a CT scan showing the posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumor visualized in the posteroanterior radiograph.  This review contains 19 figures, 51 tables, and 83 references. Keywords:  Mediastinum, mediastinitis, pleural effusion, empyema, congestive heart failure, adenopathy, thymoma, esophageal perforation  


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayue Wang ◽  
Degang Wang ◽  
Jianjiao Chen

Abstract BACKGROUND: Boerhaave’s syndrome is the spontaneous rupture of the esophagus, caused by an increase of intraluminal pressure that is produced in the context of negative intrathoracic pressure. It has a high index of morbimortality, which is why it requires early diagnosis and treatment. Symptoms may vary, and diagnosis can be challenging.CASE PRESENTATION: Case one: A 54-year-old man presented to us with sudden-onset epigastric pain radiating to the back following hematemes. His previous medical history included gastric ulcer. His physical signs suggested early shock. Combined with his medical history and physical signs, emergency doctor suspected a diagnosis of peptic ulcer with hematemesis, and esophagegastroscopy was performed. However, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a full-thickness rupture of the esophageal wall. The subsequent computed tomography (CT) showed frank pneumomediastinum and heterogeneous pleural effusion. He was subsequently referred to us in view of suspected Boerhaave’s syndrome and clinical worsening. In view of hemodynamic instability with uncontrolled sepsis, he was planned for surgery. Esophageal perforation repair operation and jejunostomy was performed for him. The postoperative period was uneventful, and he was discharged.Case two: A 62-year-old man was admitted to the emergency department with thoracic dull pain and chest distress that started after he had been vomiting several hours before presentation. On physical examination, he presented rough bronchovesicular breathing sound, and crepitant rales in lungs prompting subcutaneous emphysema. Chest CT scan showed pneumomediastinum and large left-sided pleural effusion. Esophagus fistula was confirmed by contrast esophagography. Therefore, spontaneous esophageal perforation was suspected. Then, we performed thoracotomy to repair the esophageal tear as well as to debride and irrigate the left pleural space. His vital signs remained stable intraoperatively, and his postoperative periods were uneventful with no leakage or stricture. Case three: The patient was a 69-year old male presenting with a severe retrosternal and upper abdominal pain followed an episode of forceful vomiting. At admission, he was diaphoretic and in respiratory distress. Physical examination revealed extensive cervical and thoracic subcutaneous emphysema but was otherwise unremarkable. A thoracic CT scan revealed a rupture in the left distal part of the oesophagus, a pneumomediastinum and left-sided pleural effusions. Conservative treatment, with cessation of oral intake, nasogastric suction, administration of intravenous fluids and parenteral nutrition, intravenous broad-spectrum anti-biotics, proton pump inhibitors and drainage of the pleural effusion by left-sided thoracostomy, failed to improve disease conditions. Open thoracic surgery was performed with debridement and drainage of the mediastinum and the pleural cavity, after which he made a slow but full recovery.CONCLUSIONS: We highlight that early diagnosis and appropriate surgical treatment are essential for optimum outcome in patients with esophageal rupture. We emphasize the importance of critical care support, particularly in the early stages of management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
V Scheggi ◽  
C Mazzoni

Abstract Background Primary cardiac lymphoma (PLC) is a rare neoplasm, defined as a lymphoma with the main bulk localized in the heart; diffuse B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type. It usually involves the pericardium and the right heart, especially the right atrium, and have a poor prognosis with a median survival of less than one year. Case summary A 62-year-old female presented to the emergency department on February 2018 for palpitations and recent-onset dyspnea on exertion. Her previous medical history was unremarkable except for a hospital admission in october 2017 for dyspnea, when she underwent pleuroscopy of a left pleural effusion with histologic findings negative for a neoplastic process. The echocardiogram showed a round-shaped mass (23x13mm) in the left atrium, attached to its lateral wall, a mild circumferential pericardial effusion and an hyperechogenic mass at the level of the atrio-ventricular junction of suspected pericardial origin. A subsequent thoracic CT scan demonstrated the presence of a bulky mediastinal mass with colliquative aspects developing around the cardiac structures, strictly attached to the left heart and infiltrating its posterior wall, the left pulmonary veins and the inferior lobar bronchus. Another mass of similar characteristics surrounded the antero-superior portion of the right heart. Colliquative lymphadenopathies and a left basal pleural effusion were also present. After performing a total-body CT scan which excluded the presence of lesions in other districts, the patient underwent CT-guided biopsy and the diagnosis of double-expressor DLBCL was made. Given the potential risk of heart rupture during chemotherapy, the first cycle of R-CHOP was performed in a in-hospital setting with initial reduction of the mediastinal mass and of the lymphadenopathies. The patient was discharged home and referred to the hematology department. After completing 6 cycles of R-CHOP, imaging studies showed rapid progression of the disease; the patient was then started on the salvation protocol R-DHAOX but died of septic shock in december 2018. Discussion PCL is rare and accounts for less than 2% of primary cardiac tumors; double-expressor DLBCL carries a poor prognosis. As in most cases, diagnosis was made after the onset of nonspecific symptoms (dyspnea) but -despite the strong predilection for right heart involvement reported in literature- our patient had a predominant left atrial infiltration. Abstract P848 Figure.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Stefano Fiori ◽  
Elisabetta Todisco ◽  
Safaa Ramadan ◽  
Federica Gigli ◽  
Patrizia Falco ◽  
...  

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are the treatment of choice for BCR-ABL1-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Although TKIs have substantially improved prognosis of CML patients, their use is not free of adverse effects. Dasatinib is a second generation TKI frequently associated with pleural effusion in up to 33% of patients. This results in symptoms as dyspnea, cough and chest pain that may require therapy discontinuation. In the present report, we describe two exceptional cases of HHV8-negative large B-cell effusion-based lymphoma (EBL) confined to the pleura, incidentally, diagnosed in patients presenting with dasatinib-related pleural effusion. One patient (case 1) is alive and is in remission at 17 months from large B-cell EBL diagnosis while unfortunately the other patient (case 2) died of progressive disease and COVID-19 pneumonia 16 months from large B-cell EBL diagnosis. These cases raise concern about a possible association between large B-cell EBL and dasatinib, and the different clinical outcome of the two cases poses a challenge in treatment decision. For this reason, we strongly recommend cytological investigation in patients with persistent/relapsing pleural effusion under dasatinib, primarily to validate its possible association with lymphoma development and to improve the knowledge about this entity.


QJM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 114 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Aziz ◽  
Safaa Kamal Mohamed BadrElden ◽  
Asmaa Magdy Mohamed Salama

Abstract Aim of the study to evaluate the role of PET/CT in initial diagnosis and staging of lymphoma, and to determine the predictive value of 18F-FDG PET by monitoring the early response and final response after completion of chemotherapy in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Patient and Methods our prospective study included 25 patients with pathologically confirmed nonHodgkin Lymphoma diffuse large B cell lymphoma selected from Department of Radiology at Ain Shams University Hospital from January 2019 to March 2020. The patients included in this study performed the followings: Initial PET/CT for staging, interim PET/CT and end of the treatment PET/CT. We performed low dose non enhanced CT scan first, then a whole body PET study followed by diagnostic enhanced whole body CT scan. The whole study took approximately 20-30 minutes. Results PET/CT has greater sensitivity 100% and specificity 68.8% than CT alone for detecting sites of nodal and extra-nodal involvement and for assessment of therapeutic response in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Conclusion PET / CT is an accurate method for evaluating tumor viability in the post-therapy setting of Non-Hodgkin lymphomas. PET / CT has a significant advantage for the diagnosis of diffusely infiltrating organs without mass lesions or contrast enhancement compared to contrast enhanced CT.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (47) ◽  
pp. 2783-2786
Author(s):  
Vengada Krishnaraj S.P. ◽  
Gayathri S. Mohan ◽  
Vinod Kumar V ◽  
Sridhar R

BACKGROUND The diagnostic yield of thoracoscopy is 95 %, of pleural fluid cytology it is 62 % and of closed pleural biopsy is 44 %, in malignant effusion. We wanted to study the diagnostic utility of flexible thoracoscopy in undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion and compare the thoracoscopy findings with the histopathology results. METHODS The study was conducted in the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai, from January 2019 to January 2020. 40 patients were enrolled in this longitudinal observational study with moderate to massive effusion and were evaluated with pleural fluid aspiration and sent for cytology, protein sugar analysis, total count, and ADA. Those cases which are exudative pleural effusions, with ADA value of less than 40 IU / L were subjected to thoracoscopy after being evaluated for fitness for thoracoscopy with complete blood count, bleeding time, clotting time, sputum for AFB, ECG, pulse oximetry, cardiac evaluation and CT chest. RESULTS Thoracoscopy was done in 40 enrolled patients. In this study, biopsy was taken from the parietal pleura in all the cases. Of these 40 cases, 30 were male and 10 were female, that is 75 % males and 25 % females. The mean age of the study population was 43 ± 14.9. Patient with the lowest age in this study group was 18 years and highest was 71 years. 16 cases (40 %) presented with left sided pleural effusion. 24 cases (60 %) presented with right sided pleural effusion. 30 cases presented with massive effusion, and 10 cases with moderate effusion. Of the 40 cases, 27 cases presented with straw coloured pleural effusion. 13 cases were haemorrhagic effusion. Histopathologic examination showed 11 cases as malignant and 29 cases as non-malignant out of which 18 cases were of tuberculosis aetiology. Thoracoscopy revealed adhesions in 13 cases and mass lesion in 4 cases. Of the 4 mass lesions 3 came as malignant, normal pleura in 11 cases, 10 were non-malignant and 1 was malignant. Nodules were seen in 12 cases of which 7 came as malignant. Straw coloured effusion was seen in 27 cases, of which 2 were malignant. CONCLUSIONS The most important indication for thoracoscopy is exudative undiagnosed pleural effusion. The overall diagnostic yield in pleural fluid cytology is 62 % and blind pleural biopsy is 44 %. The diagnostic yield of thoracoscopy varies from 60 % to 97 % in various studies, whereas, in our study, it is 72.5 %. Visualization of the visceral and parietal pleura is another advantage, so that we can take biopsy from the abnormal areas. KEYWORDS Flexible Thoracoscopy, Undiagnosed Exudative Pleural Effusion


Blood ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 1720-1720
Author(s):  
Mayur Narkhede ◽  
Sadaf Qureshi ◽  
Maryam Yazdy ◽  
Roxanna Juarez ◽  
Giuseppe Esposito

Abstract Background DLBCL is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), making up about 30%-40% of NHL in the U.S. PET-CT is recommended as the most accurate imaging technique in DLBCL for staging and response assessment. Pretreatment assessment of PET-CT scan derived metrics such as TMTV has been shown to correlate with PFS and/or overall survival (OS) in DLBCL (Sasanelli 2014) We attempted to replicate this finding using EFS at 24 months as a primary endpoint and compare it with pre-treatment TMTV, TLG and cell of origin (COO). Methods 47 pts with newly diagnosed DLBCL and treated with R-CHOP at our institution between 2014 to 2018 were identified from our electronic medical record system for retrospective analysis after IRB approval. All pts had a pretreatment PET-CT scan available for TMTV measurement. All pts had a pretreatment biopsy which were reviewed along with their clinical information regarding treatment outcome and follow up. Patients were classified as to germinal center B cell (GCB) and non-GCB based on immunochemistry using the Hahn's algorithm. PET-CT scans were reviewed by two nuclear medicine physicians using synovia software, and measurements for TMTV and TLG were recorded. TMTV was calculated using a threshold of 41% of the max pixel value (based on prior studies) to draw the volume of interest (VOI) for a lesion. Pooled t-test was performed to compare TMTV, TLG and COO with EFS at 24 mos. Chi-Square test compared TMTV with COO Results Median age of pts was 58 years, with a median duration of follow up of 26 months. There were 33% with limited stage (Stage I or II) and 67% were advanced stage (Stage III or IV). The mean pretreatment TMTV and pretreatment TLG was 295cm3 and 4519 units. 49% were GCB subtype and 47 % non-GCB. Amongst all patients 19.2 % had an event within 24 mos. When TMTV was compared to EFS at 24 months the mean TMTV was 304 for those who had an event versus 294 without (p=0.95). TLG compared to EFS at 24 months showed a mean TLG of 3391 for those who had an event versus 4914 without (P=0.40). GCB and non-GCB had mean TMTV of 264 and 339 respectively with p =0.59. COO when compared to TLG had means of 4365 and 4933 for GCB and non-GBB respectively with p=0.79.Whereas there was no correlation between stage and COO (p=0.4296) TMTV correlated with Ann Arbor staging (p=0.0002). Conclusion This retrospective study failed to demonstrate a correlation between pre-treatment TMTV, TLG, COO and EFS at 24 months revealing the lack of prognostic significance of pretreatment PET scan derived metrics in DLBCL. Prior studies with TMTV did not evaluate EFS at 24 months as an endpoint and therefore, longer follow up might be needed to demonstrate prognostic significance of pretreatment TMTV minimizing it clinical significance. The different subtypes of DLBCL based on COO as assessed by Hahns algorithm also did not differ in their disease burden as measured by TMTV. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


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