Honeycombing (lungs)
Honeycombing is a CT imaging descriptor referring to clustered cystic air spaces (between 3-10 mm in diameter, but occasionally as large as 2.5 cm) that are usually subpleural and basal in distribution. They can be subdivided into:
The walls of the cysts are well-defined and often thick (1-3 mm) 4. They represent an irreversible finding commonly seen in diffuse pulmonary fibrosis (usual interstitial pneumonia UIP).
On this page:
Pathology
Honeycombing consists of enlarged airspaces with thick fibrotic walls lined by bronchiolar epithelium and often filled with mucin and inflammatory cells 6.
History and etymology
The term “honeycomb lung” is thought to have originated in the 19th century in Germany and is thought to have first appeared in 1949 in a study by N Oswald and T Parkinson 5.
Differential diagnosis
- in some situations
- paraseptal emphysema and paracicatrical emphysema 3
- traction bronchioloectasis
- airspace consolidation in the presence of pulmonary emphysema can mimic this appearance
Related Radiopaedia articles
Inspired signs
-
inanimate object inspired
- astronomical inspired
- champagne glass pelvis
- Coca-Cola bottle sign
- coin lesion
- corduroy artifact
- corduroy sign
- dinner fork deformity
- fishhook ureters
- ghost triad (gallbladder)
- goblet sign
- hatchet sign
- hockey stick sign
- hourglass sign
- ivory vertebra sign
- leather bottle stomach
- Lincoln log vertebra
- napkin ring sign
- open book fracture
- pearl necklace sign
- polka-dot sign
- rachitic rosary
- rainshower sign
- rugger jersey spine
- sack of marbles sign
- scalpel sign
- spilled teacup sign
- string of pearls sign
- tam o' shanter sign
- telephone receiver deformity
- tombstone iliac wings
- Venetian blind sign
- water bottle sign
-
weapon and munition inspired signs
- bayonet deformity
- boomerang sign (disambiguation)
- bullet-shaped vertebra
- cannonball metastases
- dagger sign
- double barrel sign
- halberd pelvis
- panzerherz
- pistol grip deformity
- saber-sheath trachea
- scimitar syndrome
-
target sign (disambiguation)
- double target sign (hepatic abscess)
- eccentric target sign (cerebral toxoplasmosis)
- reverse target sign (cirrhotic nodules)
- target sign (choledocholithiasis)
- target sign (hepatic metastases)
- target sign (intussusception)
- target sign (neurofibromas)
- target sign (pyloric stenosis)
- target sign (tuberculosis)
- trident appearance
- Viking helmet sign
- white pyramid sign
- wine bottle sign
-
vegetable and plant inspired
- aubergine sign
- celery stalk appearance
- chocolate cyst
- coconut left atrium
- coffee bean sign
- cottage loaf sign
- cotton wool appearance
- doughnut sign (disambiguation)
- drooping lily sign
- ginkgo leaf sign (disambiguation)
- holly leaf sign
- ivy sign
- linguine sign
- macaroni sign
- miliary opacities
- onion skin periosteal reaction
- pine cone bladder
- popcorn calcification
- potato nodes
- rice bodies
- rice grain calcification
- salt and pepper skull
- tree-in-bud
- waterlily sign
- fruit inspired
-
animal and animal produce inspired
- human
- fish and seafood
- birds
- mammals
- anteater nose sign
- antler sign
- bat wing opacities
- bear paw sign
- beaver tail liver
- buffalo chest
- bull's eye sign (disambiguation)
- bunny waveform sign
- claw sign
- dog ear sign
- dog leg sign
- ears of the lynx sign
- eye of tiger sign
- feline esophagus
- giraffe pattern
- hide-bound sign
- leaping dolphin sign
- leopard skin sign
- moose head appearance
- panda sign
- pleural mouse
- raccoon eyes sign
- rat bite erosions
- rat-tail sign
- Scottie dog sign
- stag's antler sign
- staghorn calculus
- tiger stripe sign
- winking owl sign
- zebra sign
- zebra stripe sign
- arthropods
- reptiles
- micro-organisms
- mythical creatures
- animal derived food inspired
- double Oreo cookie (glenoid labrum)
- hamburger sign (spine)
- head cheese sign (lungs)
- honeycombing (lungs)
- licked candy stick appearance (bones)
- linguine sign (breast implants)
- omental cake
- Oreo cookie (heart)
- pancake adrenal
- pancake brain
- pancake vertebra
- Polo mint sign
- salad oil sign (breast implants)
- sandwich sign (CNS)
- sandwich sign (mesentery)
- sandwich vertebra
- sausage digit
- spaghetti sign
- alphabet inspired signs