Tuberculosis of the Rare Azygos Lobe of Lung

Background: The azygos lobe is a rare anatomical variant seen in the upper lobe of right lung. It occurs during embryological development due to the failure of posterior cardinal vein to migrate supero-medially. It is often an incidental finding on imaging and is asymptomatic in majority of cases. Tuberculosis involving the azygos lobe is extremely rare. Only a few cases of tuberculosis involving the azygos lobe have been reported in literature.Case presentation: We present a rare case report of tuberculosis infection involving the azygos lobe in a 57-year-old Indian male with history of chronic cough, fever, haemoptysis and weight loss.Conclusions: The azygos lobe is usually asymptomatic, but it may be misdiagnosed as bulla, lung cyst or abscess. In rare cases it may be associated with certain pathology such as tuberculosis, other infections, and lung cancer. Hence, it is pertinent for a radiologist to be aware of this variant when reporting chest imaging cases.

A case of tuberculosis of the rare azygos lobe of the right lung

Background The azygos lobe is a rare anatomical variant seen in the upper lobe of right lung. It occurs during embryological development due to the failure of posterior cardinal vein to migrate supero-medially. It is often an incidental finding on imaging and is asymptomatic in majority of cases. Tuberculosis involving the azygos lobe is extremely rare. Only a few cases of tuberculosis involving the azygos lobe have been reported in literature. Case presentation We present a rare case report of tuberculosis infection involving the azygos lobe in a 57-year-old male with history of chronic cough, fever, hemoptysis, and weight loss. Conclusions The azygos lobe is usually asymptomatic, but it may be misdiagnosed as bulla, lung cyst, or abscess. In rare cases it may be associated with certain pathology such as tuberculosis, other infections, and lung cancer. Hence, it is pertinent for a radiologist to be aware of this variant when reporting chest imaging cases.

A Rare Case of Right Upper Lung Cancer With Azygos Lobe and Partial Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return: A Case Report

Background: The azygos lobe (AL) combined with partial anomalous pulmonary venous return (PAPVR) is comparatively uncommon as well as in radical surgery for right lung cancer.Case presentation: We herein present an extremely rare case of lung cancer coexisting with AL and asymptomatic PAPVC, which was diagnosed with preoperative contrast three-dimensional reconstruction and received radical surgery by thoracoscopy. During the surgery, we preserved azygos vein successfully and found a split type of PAPVR in right upper pulmonary vein.Conclusions: AL combined with PAPVR may cause confusion on the vascular separation and disconnection of the right pulmonary hilar. However, preoperative 3D reconstruction are more conducive to the correct performing of this type of surgery.

The rare anatomical variant of upper lobe

Background Primary disease in thorax associated with an azygos lobe is extremely rare. It is usually identified incidentally on chest X-ray or CT during health checkups with an incidence of up to 0.2%. This is the first study involving 46 of patients found with azygos lobe in surgery of English literature from January 1931 to July 2020. Methods PubMed, EMBASE and the Web of Science databases were searched for full-text literatures met out inclusion criteria. We summarized the clinical data, radiological manifestation, accompanying disease and treatment strategy of all patients. Results 18 eligible studies involving 46 patients were selected for this research. The mean age was 36.5 years old. There were 26 male patients and 20 female patients and the male to female ratio nearly to 1.3:1. There were many different primary diseases with azygos lobe including lung cancer (n = 8), spontaneous pneumothorax (n = 5), esophageal cancer (n = 1), pulmonary sequestration (n = 1), esophageal atresia (n = 2), hyperhidrosis (n = 29). The azygos lobe (azygos lobe in Figs. 1 and 2) is an uncommon anomaly that is found in 1% of anatomic specimens, on about 0.4% of chest radiographs and 1.2% of high resolution CT. The azygos lobe is a developmental anomaly but not a true accessory lobe. Azygos lobe of all patients was diagnosed during the operation. Conclusions Azygos lobe occurs in 0.2% of the population and can make clinical diagnosis difficult. The detection of this anomaly and clarification of its precise anatomical features are important to alert the surgeon to potential problems during surgery.