Radiographic aspects of occult pulmonary haemorrhage

Patients with leukaemia, on anticoagulant therapy, or with disseminated intravascular coagulation may develop occult pulmonary haemorrhage; it will mimic pulmonary oedema, pulmonary hemosiderosis or opportunistic infections. It can be diagnosed by bronchopulmonary lavage. The radiographic changes are described and the differential diagnosis discussed in a series of 12 such patients.     

Pseudoaneurysms complicating organ transplantation: roles of CT, duplex sonography, and angiography

In a retrospective study of proved pseudoaneurysms (PAs) in 15 patients with transplanted organs (11 liver, three kidney, one pancreas), the results of computed tomography (CT), duplex sonography, and angiography were reviewed. Of the 15 cases of PA, eight occurred at the arterial anastomosis and seven were nonanastomotic. Three of the eight anastomotic PAs were caused by infection. Of the seven nonanastomotic PAs, four were caused by percutaneous biopsy, two were caused by infection, and one was of undetermined cause. In nine (60%) of the 15 patients the PAs were incidentally detected at imaging studies performed for other reasons. Diagnosis requires a high degree of suspicion. CT was performed in nine cases and duplex sonography in ten. The diagnosis of PA was made with CT in six (67%) patients and with duplex sonography in five (50%). CT and duplex sonography could not enable diagnosis when the PA was small, when the arterial anastomosis was not included in the field of study, or when enhancement with intravenously administered contract material was suboptimal. Angiography depicted the PAs in all 15 patients. In three liver transplant recipients with gastrointestinal tract bleeding, the causative PAs were detected only with angiography.     

Granulocytosis associated with tumor cell production of colony-stimulating activity

A patient with metastatic soft tissue sarcoma presented with a leukemoid reaction. The elevated white blood cell count was due to an increase in bands and mature segmented neutrophils. The degree of granulocytosis correlated with the tumor burden. There was no evidence of superimposed infection and the degree of bone marrow involvement by metastatic tumor was minimal. A cell line derived from the sarcoma produces granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating activity (CSA) in vitro. Although CSA could not be detected in serum, the findings in this patient suggest that the leukemoid reaction was due to tumor production of CSA.