cloudy lung scan

[jeansee]

I am a 49 year old female with aching left sided chest pain. The doctors did an ekg which showed i have sinus bradycardia but I have always had a slow heart rate. They did a cat scan that showed cloudy lungs with the looks of a snow storm in them.  They put me on an anti imflamitory and have scheduled a cat scan in 3 weeks to see if the symtoms disappear.  The pain is still present all the time and I feel short of breath when I do anything.  What could it be?


This discussion is related to swollen lymph nodes in neck, abnormal chest ct scan.

[caregiver222]

As usual, Drnee has provided an excellent and comprehensive explanation of the possibilities. I was reluctant to do so, because I didn't want to scare you, and assumed that any first year nursing student would have considered and been testing for those problems. If the diagnosis is tuberculosis,you should discuss in detail the possibity of you infecting others,and what you can do to avoid this. Certainly "Rule Out mtb" should have been the very first provisional diagnosis. I would request a copy of all your medical records. Every sooften one comes on a physician who subscribesto the position that "you shouldn't tell a patient too much". Thesephysicians are not necessily evil or incompetent. They represent a position taught (unfortunately) in some of the best medical schools. Drnees suggestion to see an opinion from a pulmonary specialist was in the money also. Do request copies of your x-rays. Try to meet with the technician who makes the copy.There is degradation in the process. An alternative is to have the x-ray on the flourescent view screen and take a 35mm slide.Succesive imagesover time will be helpful if  you decide to change physicians.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
A snow storm appearance of the lung in CT scan is seen in tuberculosis, cancers and in pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis. A repeat CT scan should definitely be done along with tests for tuberculosis and PET scan for lung cancer if the CT scan does not show resolution of the inflammation. Please seek another opinion too from a chest specialist.  
Hope this helps. Take care!

[caregiver222]

It sounds like they suspect inflammationn in the lung. You should request an MRI rather than a cat. The MRI is far less dangerous and shows up everything you might want to see. The CAT, which uses x-ray radiation, is an obsolete machine. The "snow storm" could be mucus or fluid, or remnants of an infection. Pain and shortness of breath are consistent with such a problem. You should obtain an emergency albuterol inhaler or a pwder foradilm aerolizer which should help witrh the shortness of breath without causing any harm.