Solitary pulmonary nodule in the liver transplant candidate: Importance of diagnosis and treatment
โ Scribed by Allan M. Concejero; Chee-Chien Yong; Chao-Long Chen; Hung-I Lu; Chih-Chi Wang; Shih-Ho Wang; Yueh-Wei Liu; Chin-Hsiang Yang; Yu-Fan Cheng; Bruno Jawan
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 112 KB
- Volume
- 16
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1527-6465
- DOI
- 10.1002/lt.22066
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
โฆ Synopsis
Our objectives were to define the incidence and etiology of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), describe a diagnostic approach to the management of SPNs in LDLT, and define the impact of SPNs on the overall survival of adult LDLT recipients. Nine patients (9/152, 5.9%) were diagnosed with an SPN on the basis of chest radiography findings during the pretransplant survey. All were male. The mean age was 52 years. All the patients had hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma. All were asymptomatic for the lung lesion. All underwent contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) to verify the presence and possible etiology of the SPNs. In 3 cases, CT was used to definitely determine that there was no pulmonary nodule; in 2, CT led to a definite diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. In 4, CT led to a definite identification of an SPN but not to an etiological diagnosis. Two patients underwent outright thoracoscopy and biopsy of their SPNs. Biopsy showed cryptococcosis in both patients. One received a therapeutic trial of an antituberculosis treatment, and repeat CT after 1 month showed a regression in the size of the SPN. A diagnosis of tuberculosis was made. One patient had an inconclusive whole body positron emission tomography scan and subsequently underwent thoracoscopy where biopsy showed tuberculosis. A concomitant malignancy, either primary lung cancer or metastasis from the liver tumor, was not identified. All patients were surviving with their original grafts and were lung infection-free. The overall mean posttransplant follow-up was 54 months (range = 33-96 months).
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may cause significant symptoms and have an impact on survival. Smoking is an important risk factor for COPD and is common in candidates for liver transplantation; however, the risk factors for and outcomes of COPD in this population are unknown. We perfor