Computed tomographic detection of cavitary lung lesion complicating use of flow-directed balloon-tipped catheter

A classic case of Swan-Ganz catheter-induced pulmonary infection was studied with both conventional chest radiography and computed tomography (CT). Chest radiography initially showed a fan-shaped opacity in the right middle lobe which later became somewhat rounded with no discernible cavitation. However, a cavitary lung lesion with a bulls-eye appearance was clearly demonstrated by CT. We speculate that such a cavitary lung lesion might be quite common in catheter-induced pulmonary infarction when CT is widely applied to such cases.