Pulmonary and pleural involvements at initial diagnosis in children with malignant neoplasm

Seventeen cases of pediatric malignant neoplasm with pulmonary and/or pleural lesions shown by chest radiography at initial diagnosis were reviewed and analyzed. Respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea, tachypnea, and chest pain were observed on admission in approximately one-half of them. The initial chest radiography showed pleural lesions in 7 of the 17, pulmonary lesions in 8, and both pulmonary and pleural lesions in 2. Unilateral or bilateral pleural fluids were observed in all of the seven patients with pleural lesions, and malignant cells were confirmed in the pleural fluid of all patients. The radiographic patterns of the eight patients with pulmonary lesions were solitary nodule in two, multiple nodules in two, diffuse miliary nodules in three, and diffuse honeycomb in one. Histological examination of the pulmonary lesion was performed in six patients at the initial diagnosis or after death, while in the remaining two primary or other metastatic sites were examined. The two patients with both pulmonary and pleural lesions showed multiple nodules or infiltrates with pleural fluid on chest radiography. Increased malignant cells were detected in the pleural fluid of both patients. In all cases, the lesions gradually or rapidly disappeared with multidrug chemotherapy. The review confirms the need for a combination of complete radiographic and pathological analysis at the time of initial diagnosis of malignant neoplasm in children to distinguish other causes such as infectious complications.