Pulmonary consolidations - Differential diagnosis of respiratory infections and bronchopulmonary neoplasm - Clinical case

Abstract

Bronchopneumonia is defined as an acute infection of the lung parenchyma involving the alveolar territory, associating an inflammation at the level of the bronchioles, most often grafting on a weakened area. The symptoms can be very variable, depending on the severity of the condition. Imaging, the chest X-ray shows multiple nodular or reticulonodular opacities that tend to be irregular and/or confluent. The distribution is often bilateral and asymmetric, predominantly involving the lung bases. The differential diagnosis of bronchopneumonia or the multiple pulmonary nodules described in the presented case is mainly made with pulmonary metastases, due to the increased frequency of diagnosis of pulmonary metastases in the case of multiple pulmonary nodules detected by chest CT; the lung being one of the main sites of metastasis of neoplasms.