Discussion
Diagnosis With Brief Discussion
- Diagnosis
- Varicella-zoster pneumonia
- Radiologic Findings
- Fig. 1-5 Axial images of chest CT show randomly distributed, small, ill-defined nodules with a surrounding halo of ground glass opacity in both lungs. The patient showed skin rash. After antiviral therapy, the patients symptoms and lung nodules were considerably improved.
- Brief Review
- Varicella-zoster virus is a double stranded DNA virus that causes a self-limited benign disease (chickenpox) in children. However, infection of varicella-zoster virus tends to cause serious complications such as varicella-zoster pneumonia in adults with lymphoma and immunocompromised or pregnant patients. The diagnosis of varicella infection is usually based on clinical findings such as skin rash, pulmonary symptoms, and a history of contact with a patient with chickenpox. With recovery from the initial disease, spherical nodules are observed to be scattered randomly throughout the lung parenchyma. Histologically, the nodules are composed of an outer lamellated fibrous capsule that encloses hyalinized collagen or necrotic tissue. Chest CT findings of varicella-zoster pneumonia consist of 1-10 mm well-defined or ill-defined nodules with a surrounding halo of ground glass opacity and coalescence of nodules diffusely throughout both lungs. These finding resolve with the healing of skin lesions after antiviral therapy.
- Please refer to
Case 79, Case 328, Case 917, Case 1109, -
KSTR Imaging Conference 2003 Summer Case 2,
- References
- 1. Kim EA et al. Viral pneumonias in adults: radiologic and pathologic findings. Radiographics 2002;22:S137-S149
2. Koo HJ et al. Radiologic and CT features of viral pneumonia. Radiographics 2018;38:719-739
- Keywords
-
lung, Varicella-Zoster pneumonia, Viral infection,