Abstract
For the purpose of study on pathogenesis of thin-walled cavities in metastatic lung tumor, the lungs of an autopsy case having multiple thin-walled cavities associated with pulmonary metastasis from squamous cell carcinoma in the foot, were examined. One of these cavities had developed into about 5 cm in diameter within a week in this clinical course. The lungs included 634 cavities and/or air spaces over 5 mm in diameter. The cavities and/or air spaces were divided to four groups in according to morphological criteria; 459 emphysematous cavities, 89 cavities with cancer thrombi, 64 cavities with inflammation and 22 cavities with cancer thrombi and inflammation. A morphometrical analysis on size and number of cavities revealed a close relationship between cavities with cancer thrombi and emphysematous cavities. Histological examination on the serial sections of the cavities revealed that the drainage bronchi were obstructed by nodular valves of perivascular fibrosis surrounding carcinoma thrombotic arteries. The large thin-walled cavities probably seen on chest x-ray films were associated with carcinoma thrombi in one part of the cavity wall. The size of cavities depended on the degree of fibrosis. Inflammation would be considered as an another increasing factor.
