Diffuse pulmonary ossification diagnosed by transbronchial biopsy: A case report

Abstract

Diffuse pulmonary ossification (DPO) is an uncommon but important component of the differential diagnosis for pulmonary calcification in the asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic patient. While surgical tissue biopsy remains the gold standard for histological diagnosis, we present a case illustrating the potential of bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy as a less invasive technique for tissue acquisition.

RÉSUMÉ

L'ossification pulmonaire diffuse est un élément peu fréquent mais important du diagnostic différentiel de la calcification pulmonaire chez le patient asymptomatique ou peu symptomatique. Bien que la biopsie chirurgicale des tissus demeure la référence en matière de diagnostic histologique, nous présentons un cas illustrant le potentiel de la bronchoscopie avec biopsie transbronchique comme technique moins invasive pour le prélèvement de tissus.

Keywords:

• Case report
• diffuse pulmonary ossification
• pulmonary calcification
• biopsy
• bronchoscopy

Acknowledgments

T. Rodriguez and S. Houston were involved in the patient’s care and in drafting the manuscript. D. Manos and Z. Xu reviewed imaging and pathology and provided pictures. All the authors conceived the paper, revised the manuscript critically for content, approved the final version to be published and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. The authors obtained patient consent.

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.