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Pulmonary embolism with "bubbly consolidation" (pulmonary infarct)

Case contributed by: Dr Charlie Chia-Tsong Hsu

Presentation:

72 year old male presented with shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain radiating to the back. Ememgency physician requested a CT aortogram for suspected aortic dissection.

Patient Data:

Age: 72

Gender: Male

Race: Caucasian

From the case: Pulmonary embolism with "bubbly consolidation" (pulmonary infarct)

Modality: CT

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CT thorax arterial phase shows pulmonary emboli in the right lateral and posterior basal segmental arteries. The lateral basal segmental artery is completely occluded and the posterior basal segmental artery nearly occluded. There is pulmonary infarction of the right lateral and posterior basal segments. In pulmonary infarction the rounded lucencies represent aerated pockets of acini and/or secondary pulmonary lobules within the hemorrhagic lung. Dr John Ayres, FRCR (Eng), cleverly coined the term “bubbly consolidation”.

Background findings of centrilobular/subpleural emphysema and congested cardiac failure with interstitial pulmonary oedema and bilateral pleural effusion.