Presentation
Chest pain persisting for one year following MVA and blunt chest trauma.
Patient Data
No X-ray available but we can see in the scout view a well-defined rounded opacity at the base of the left hemithorax, behind the diaphragm.
With the lung window a subpleral solid nodule with smooth borders is seen in the basal lateral segment of the left lower lobe. it is associated with linear atelectasis, mild lung volume loss and minimal pleural effusion.
In the mediastinal window the heterogeneity of the lesion is seen with mild central calcification.
For further evaluation we decided to perform a chest MRI. The lung lesion had heterogeneous signal intensity, predominantly hyperintense in T2 and T1. Mild pleural effusion.
Left hemidiaphagm was normal.
Case Discussion
Lung hematomas are a type of post-traumatic injury along with contusions and lacerations. They result from a laceration that completely fills with blood and can take months to resolve.
If the previous trauma is unknown, the lesion can be mistaken for a lung tumor.
Our patient underwent surgery given the size of the hematoma with confirmation of the presumptive diagnosis during surgery.
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