INVESTIGATIONS ON IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY OSSIFICATION

Linear and round shadows are very often revealed on chest radiographs. A rare entity most commonly appearing as branching linear shadows of calcific density involving a limited area of the lung is the so-called disseminated pulmonary ossification (DPO). Only 141 cases have been r eported worldwide up to now since the first description. Material and Methods: A study on 490 autopsies was performed to find out the freque ncy of DPO. In case of DPO we compared the structures with the chest r adiographs and CT of the patients. Further, we evaluate clinical commu nities of patients with DPO. Results: From a total of 490 lungs eight were identified with DPO (1.6%). The mean age of patients with DPO was 80.2 years, the male/female ratio seven to one (mean age of all patie nts: 64.6 years, male/female ratio one to one), All cases were associa ted with hypertension followed by extreme arteriosclerosis. In 5 cases there was a proven extrapulmonary carcinoma and a renal insufficience . In 4 cases we found diabetes mellitus. At postmortem radiographs and CT, a collection of small rounded calcific nodules and further linear shadows arranged in a branching or net-like configuration was identif ied. This was compared with the chest radiographs of the patients. The re were no dysfunctions of lungs due to DPO. Conclusions: In chest rad iographs of elderly men the differential diagnosis ''DPO'' should be g iven more importance.