A young man with multiple pulmonary cysts

Several diseases cause cystic or cyst-like parenchymal lung abnormalities including adult pulmonary Langerhan's cell histiocytosis (PLCH), lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), emphysema, end-stage interstitial lung disease, and cystic bronchiectasis. Many of these diseases can now be diagnosed with high accuracy by the use of high-resolution computerized tomography (HRCT). In fact, HRCT of chest has proved a major breakthrough in the diagnosis of these diseases. We are presenting a young man with a cystic lung disease in which, the HRCT findings were virtually diagnostic of that disease. The clinical and HRCT findings of this disease along with its differential diagnosis are discussed in this paper.