Lung infiltrate in a male with a bronchopleural fistula

[Lipoid pneumonia in patients after laryngectomy]

Three patients with exogenous lipoid pneumonia are presented. All of them had laryngectomy because of the cancer of larynx. In a period of time ranging from a few months up to a few years after the operation they started to have dyspnoea, cough, sometimes hemoptysis and slightly elevated temperature. The chest X-ray revealed massive opacities in the lower zones of both lungs suggesting lung cancer or metastases of the laryngeal cancer. HRCT showed ground glass lesions. Histological examination of the lungs detected accumulation of multiple macrophages with vacuolated foamy cytoplasms in the alveoli. Neoplastic disease was excluded. Additional data from the patients history revealed that all of them were inhaling or administering mineral oil-containing products through the tracheostomy. Exogenous lipoid pneumonia was diagnosed. Patients were asked to stop inhalations with the mineral oil.

Multiple Pulmonary Nodules and Underlying Head and Neck Cancer

We describe a 66-year-old woman with recently diagnosed cT2N0 mouth cancer and multiple hypo-dense pulmonary nodules discovered on a computed tomographic chest scan. These nodules were located in the anterior part of the right upper and middle lobe and were resected thoracoscopically. Histologic examination of these nodules revealed a lipoid pneumonia. Exogenous lipoid pneumonia is a rare but described pulmonary disease that typically presents as consolidations. An exclusive presentation such as multiple pulmonary nodules is very unusual.