Presentation
Cough. Past month of worsening cough. Want to rule out atypical pneumonia. Patient's hair was in braids down back.
Patient Data
Mild to moderate diffuse bilateral peri-bronchial thickening may be due to reactive airway disease, or a viral process.
Lobular opacifications in the superior mediastinum are due to patient's hair/braids seen on image #1.
In the subsequent image #2, the hair braids were removed from view.
Case Discussion
A patient's hair may obscure radiological findings; different hairstyles create unique radiopaque patterns. Although a common artifact, it is important to consider artifacts external to the patient and remove them from the field of view to avoid misdiagnosis.
This case was submitted with supervision and input from:
Soni C. Chawla, M.D.
Health Sciences Clinical Professor,
Department of Radiological Sciences,
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Attending Pediatric Radiologist,
Olive View - UCLA Medical Center.
Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.