Diagnosis of multiple pulmonary cavernous hemangiomas via dual-layer spectral CT: A case report

Cavernous hemangioma is a benign vascular tumor, which very rarely occurs in the lung. When appearing as multiple nodules on chest CT, this tumor can be misdiagnosed as metastatic malignancy.

A 72-year-old woman presented with incidentally found multiple lung nodules on chest radiograph.

Based on information derived from dual-layer spectral CT images, the possibility of slow flow vascular tumor such as cavernous hemangioma was suggested. A pathologic diagnosis of pulmonary cavernous hemangioma was made via video-assisted thoracoscopic biopsy.

After tissue confirmation, the patient was discharged without further intervention.

The patient recovered without any event. Follow-up chest CT performed 6 months later showed no significant interval change in nodule size and distribution.

Material decomposition images obtained from dual energy CT can help physicians understand the character of tumor vascularity for an accurate diagnosis of pulmonary cavernous hemangioma.