FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 315:1255-1259 November 13, 1986 Number 20 Next

	Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

Abstract

Mesenchymal hamartomatous nodules and cysts in the lungs caused hemoptysis, pneumothorax, hemothorax, pleuritic chest pain, dyspnea of slight or moderate degree, or a combination of these signs and symptoms in five patients. In four cases the disease was multifocal and bilateral. The nodules were composed of primitive mesenchymal cells subdivided into papillae by a plexus of small airways lined with respiratory epithelium. The nodules grew slowly in number and size over the years and apparently became cystic when they reached a diameter of about 1 cm. The cysts had a cambium layer of mesenchymal cells and were lined with normal or metaplastic respiratory epithelium. In general, the disease had an indolent course. The most serious complications were sudden hemorrhage into a cyst from large systemic arteries supplying the walls of the cysts, pneumothorax or hemothorax from rupture of a subpleural cyst, and malignant transformation in one case. This disease appears to represent a distinct clinicopathological entity, which I term mesenchymal cystic hamartoma of the lung.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Kinane, T.B., Mark, E.J. (1996). Case 20-1996- A newborn triplet with episodes of respiratory distress and a pulmonary mass. NEJM 334: 1726-1732 [Full Text]  
• Fuchs, B. D., Mark, E. F. (1994). Case 18-1994- A 37-Year-Old Woman with Interstitial Lung Disease, Renal Masses, and a Previous Spontaneous Pneumothorax. NEJM 330: 1300-1306 [Full Text]