BRONCHIOLOALVEOLAR ADENOMA OF THE LUNG - CT-PATHOLOGICAL CORRELATION

PURPOSE: To correlate the appearance of bronchioloalveolar adenoma (BA A) of the lung at computed tomography (CT) with its pathologic feature s. MATERIALS RND METHODS: Nine small pulmonary nodules with ground-gla ss attenuation were found at CT in 668 patients with lung carcinoma. S even of these nine lesions were histopathologically diagnosed as BAA i n four patients (three men and one woman, aged 66-77 years) (three les ions in one man, two lesions in the woman, and one lesion each in the remaining two men) and are the subject of this study. RESULTS: BAA of the lung appeared at CT as a small pulmonary nodule with ground-glass attenuation; microscopic examination revealed hyperplasia of the alveo lar cuboidal cells on hyperplastic alveolar septa. The CT findings dep icted partial reduction of the alveolar air spaces owing to an increas e in cellular components within the lesion. Adenocarcinoma cells were also seen within the BAA lesion in one patient. CONCLUSION: In a patie nt with known lung carcinoma, a small nodule with ground-glass attenua tion simulating a focal lesion of pulmonary interstitial disease must be investigated to rule out BAA or multicentric adenocarcinoma.