Medical Image of the Month: Metastatic Pulmonary Calcifications in a Kidney Transplant Recipient

Figure 1. Axial and coronal views of thoracic CT scan showing upper lobe predominant centrilobular ground glass nodules.

Figure 2. Transbronchial biopsy yielded nine tissue fragments, each of which demonstrated moderate to marked interstitial calcification (amorphous purple material) along the alveolar septae, perivascular spaces and within the bronchioles consistent metastatic calcification.  There were secondary changes of mild alveolar fibrosis and interstitial hemosiderin laden macrophages (golden brown pigment).  There was no evidence of an inflammatory response or malignancy to otherwise explain the CT findings in this patient.

A 40-year-old man presented with shortness of breath, cough and abnormal imaging. He had a past medical history of end stage renal disease (ESRD) secondary to Alport syndrome and underwent three kidney transplants in 2004, 2010 and 2016. He was intermittently on dialysis between the transplants. He also had a history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and parathyroidectomy. His CT scan (Figure 1) from 2019 showed diffuse centrilobular ground glass opacities sparing the peripheral lung and lung bases. Pulmonary function testing showed obstruction, with reduced diffusion capacity. Bronchoscopy with bronchoalveloar lavage and transbronchial biopsy of the right upper and middle lobes was consistent with metastatic pulmonary calcification (MPC) (Figure 2).

MPC is a rare metabolic pulmonary disease which is usually found incidentally or on autopsy. It occurs with chronically elevated calcium and phosphorus levels (1). It is very commonly associated with ESRD and rarely in primary hyperparathyroidism, osteoporosis, sarcoidosis, renal and liver transplant and hematological malignancies (2-5). CT shows diffuse, nodular areas of ground-glass opacity or consolidation seen in the upper lung zones with pleural sparing. Diagnosis is made on histopathology. There is no definitive treatment for MPC. MPC should be considered with radiological nodular ground glass opacities, particularly in the context of chronic kidney disease or kidney transplant.

Nikhil Madan¹ MD FCCP, Vipul Patel¹ MD, Christine Minerowicz² MD, Harpreet Greewal¹ MD, and Thomas Kaleekal MD FCCP

¹Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care and Transplant

Newark Beth Israel Medical Center

Newark, NJ USA

²Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

New Brunswick, NJ USA 

References

1. Chan ED, Morales DV, Welsh CH, McDermott MT, Schwarz MI. Calcium deposition with or without bone formation in the lung. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2002 Jun 15;165(12):1654-69. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
2. Kuhlman JE, Ren H, Hutchins GM, Fishman EK. Fulminant pulmonary calcification complicating renal transplantation: CT demonstration. Radiology. 1989; 173:459e60. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
3. Bendayan D, Barziv Y, Kramer MR. Pulmonary calcifications: a review. Respir Med. 2000; 94:190e3. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
4. Izadyar M, Mahjoub F, Ardakani SN, Ahmadi J. Pulmonary metastatic calcification in a leukemic patient: a case report. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2010;32:e108e10. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
5. Surani SR, Surani S, Khimani A, Varon J. Metastatic pulmonary calcification in multiple myeloma in a 45-year-old man. Case Reports Pulmonol. 2013; 2013:341872. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Cite as: Madan N, Patel V, Minerowicz C, Greewal H, Kaleekal T. Medical image of the month: metastatic pulmonary calcifications in a kidney transplant recipient. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2020;20(2):71-2. doi: https://doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc001-20 PDF

Medical Image of the Month: Complexity of Healthcare Payment

Figure 1. An illustration taken from an advertisement from a company that claims to simplify healthcare payment.

It is generally agreed that healthcare costs are too high in the US. In ground-breaking work published in 1991, Woolhandler and Himmelstein (1) found that US administrative health care costs increased 37% between 1983 and 1987. They estimated these costs accounted for nearly a quarter of all health care expenditures. Himmelstein now estimates that administrative costs may now account for up to 40% of healthcare costs (2). The cartoon shows one provider and one patient but 8 healthcare administrators. This payment system is overly complex involving multiple steps and personnel, with each administrator “dipping their beaks” adding to healthcare costs.

Alp Umar, MD and Richard A. Robbins, MD

Arizona Chest and Sleep Medicine

Phoenix, AZ USA

References

1. Woolhandler S, Himmelstein DU. The deteriorating administrative efficiency of the US health care system. N Engl J Med. 1991;324(18):1253-8. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
2. Robbins RA, Natt B. Medical image of the week: Medical administrative growth. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2018;17(1):35. [CrossRef]

Cite as: Umar A, Robbins RA. Medical image of the month: complexity of healthcare payment. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2020;20(2):59. doi: https://doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc073-19 PDF