Background & objective: Clinical symptoms and imaging presentations of inflammatory pseudotumor of the lung (IPL) lack of specialties, and always result in misdiagnoses. This article was to summarize features of IPL, and to improve diagnosis accuracy and appropriate operation selection.
Methods: Records of 51 patients with pathologically confirmed IPL, treated surgically in Department of Thoracic Surgery, Cancer Institute/Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from Jan. 1990 to Mar. 2000, were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were followed-up for at least 3 years.
Results: Of the 51 patients, before operation, only 3 (5.9%) had been correctly diagnosed, 24 (47.1%) were suspected having tuberculoma or other benign lung tumors, 10 (19.6%) with undefined occupied lesion in the lung, 14 (27.4%) were misdiagnosed as lung cancer. All patients received surgery, including lobectomy in 23 patients (45.1%), tumor excision in 22 patients (43.1%), wedge resection in 4 patients (7.8%), and segmental resection in 2 patients (3.9%). Only 1 (2.0%) had postoperative complication. No death occurred with a follow-up rate of 94.1% (48/51).
Conclusion: Preoperative diagnosing IPL is quite difficult. Surgery should be performed as early as possible. The selection of surgery patterns, mainly include lobectomy and limited resection, depends on intraoperative pathology.