CTICasesCystic Pulmonary Metastases from Angiosarcoma with Pneumothorax
Imaging findings
An 81-year-old man with a recurrent head and neck (scalp) angiosarcoma, not previously known to have lung metastases, presented before radiation planning with a sizable left pneumothorax and bilateral thin-walled cysts. CT shows numerous thin-walled cystic lesions, some with a little more wall and a surrounding ground-glass halo, with presumed rupture of one on the left causing the pneumothorax. A PET two to three months earlier had shown right-lung changes read as likely infection.
Key takeaways
Angiosarcoma characteristically produces cystic pulmonary metastases, often with a surrounding ground-glass halo (likely tumor matrix or neovascularity rather than hemorrhage, since it does not change), and rupture can cause spontaneous pneumothorax. Rapidly appearing cystic lesions in a patient with an aggressive sarcoma should raise metastatic disease, and an earlier PET focus dismissed as infection may in retrospect represent early metastasis.
AI-assisted summary — may contain errors. Verify against the source video. Learn more
More from this webinar
- Exogenous Lipoid Pneumonia from Vicks VapoRubExposure
- Post-COVID-19 FibrosisInfection
- SVC and IVC Occlusion with Systemic Venous Collaterals to the Left AtriumVascular
- Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis Progressing to FibrosisILD
- COVID-19 Organizing Pneumonia with Cystic ChangeInfection
- Giant Cell Arteritis Presenting as AortitisAutoimmune
- Tracheal Bronchus with Hypoplastic Accessory LobeCongenital
- Pulmonary Atresia with Intact Ventricular SeptumCongenital
See all cases from November 6, 2020 →