CTICasesOccupational Metal Dust Lymphadenopathy
Imaging findings
An incidental finding of markedly high-attenuation (metallic-density) hilar, infrahilar, and mediastinal lymph nodes was noted, measuring well over 100 Hounsfield units, without lymph node enlargement and with otherwise normal-appearing lungs. The patient's occupational history of welding in enclosed spaces such as oil pipes explained the finding, attributed to inhaled metal particles carried by pulmonary lymphatics into the draining lymph nodes.
Key takeaways
Densely attenuating lymph nodes on CT in a patient with an occupational history of welding or metal work reflect metal dust cleared by the pulmonary lymphatics and deposited in draining nodes, a benign occupational marker rather than pathologic calcification, and the normal-appearing lung parenchyma here indicates the lymphatic clearance system had not yet been overwhelmed to the point of causing pneumoconiosis.
AI-assisted summary — may contain errors. Verify against the source video. Learn more
More from this webinar
- Retained Wooden Foreign Body ("Timber Thorax")Trauma
- Tipped-Up Right Middle Lobe (Chronic Cicatrization Atelectasis)Artifact
- Naltrexone (Vivitrol)-Induced Acute Eosinophilic PneumoniaILD
- Aluminosis with Dense LymphadenopathyExposure
- Pulmonary Mucormycosis ("Bird's Nest" Sign) in Neutropenic LeukemiaInfection
- Chronic BerylliosisExposure
- Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA)Autoimmune
- Endovascular Small Cell Lung Cancer Mimicking an Infectious/Inflammatory NoduleNeoplastic
See all cases from June 28, 2018 →