Presentation
Smoker, raised ESR, CRP.
Patient Data
Mild generalized bronchial wall thickening, expected in a smoker. Some irregularity of bronchial walls is also evident.
Overall, these 5mm scans are not very informative. Please scroll through the HRCT images below.
Numerous tiny 1-2 mm sized diverticula arising from the central bronchi bilaterally. A larger subcarinal diverticulum is also seen. Please see the key magnified images below.
TIny 1-2 mm diverticula in central bronchi bilaterally, some of them marked on the images.
Case Discussion
Generalized bronchial wall thickening can be due to numerous causes, smoking related chronic airway inflammation and asthma being the common ones. Bronchial diverticula are however seen far more frequently seen in smokers and can help identify smoking related airway disease vs other etiologies.
The subcarinal diverticulum, or main bronchial diverticulum, also seen in this case, does not have any specific relationship with smoking.
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