Lung Cavities

Pulmonary cavity lesions are extremely complex pulmonary pathologies, due to the problem of a diagnosis as well as their therapeutic management. The etiological spectrum includes, on the one hand, necrotizing infections (pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, abscesses with parasites, fungi), and on the other hand, non-infectious conditions (necrotic pulmonary neoplasm, infected pulmonary infarction, vasculitis, collagenoses with pulmonary cavities by immunological mechanism, aspiration, intrabronchial foreign body, congenital pulmonary malformations, excavated pneumoconiosis, etc.). The differential diagnosis of lung cavity formations is often laborious, involving numerous paraclinical investigations, starting from sputum examination to imaging (conventional radiography, computed tomography with contrast substance), bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage, transbronchial biopsy, transthoracic biopsy, serological and immunological tests, and microbiological investigations. Conventional lung radiography remains one of the basic methods in the diagnosis of lung diseases, but sometimes it requires the addition of other investigative methods with higher accuracy.