A Cross Sectional Study Of Chest Metastasis Patterns Of All Malignancies Presented To Radiology Department At Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa Ethiopia From October 2018 May 2019.
Back ground: Chest is one of the commonest metastasis site of the thoracic or extra thoracicrnmalignancies and Pulmonary metastases have widely variable presentation on imaging and mayrnsimulate primary lung tumor or nonmalignant diseases. Therefore, it is important for thernradiologist to be familiar with the full spectrum of findings to facilitate correct diagnosis and thisrnstudy has tried to look for the pattern of chest metastasis. rnObjective: This study aimed to assess the overall chest metastasis patterns of both thoracic andrnextra thoracic malignancies and their possible histologic correlation. rnMethods: A prospective cross sectional study of 202 patients was done from October 2018-rnMay 2019. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for analysis. rnResults: of the total 202 cases there are 25 primary sites and the majorities come from thernfollowing sites in the descending order esophagus (63), breast (47), lung (24), bones (14), softrntissues (10), thyroid (9), head and neck (11) and miscellaneous (24). rnThe commonly seen histologic variant is Squamous cell carcinoma (46 cases); majority from thernesophagus followed by Adenocarcinoma (26 case); majority from the breast and the lungrnfollowed by sarcomas (24 cases) mainly from the bones and soft tissues and other miscellaneousrnhistologic variants account 16cases from different sources. For the rest of cases the histology isrnnot known. rnThe commonest metastatic site is found to be the lung parenchyma and air ways (accounting 120rncases with multinodular pattern being the commonest (67cases). The second is found to be the rnmediastinum accounting 108 cases mainly involving the lymph nodes (106 cases). The 3rnthe pleura (58 cases) with the pleural nodule being the predominant pattern (24 cases). The last isrnchest wall metastasis accounting for 53 cases mainly involving the bones (26 cases). rnThere is statistically significant positive correlation seen between the calcific metastasis andrnsarcomas but no statistically significant correlation between other histologic types and lungrnmetastasis pattern. rnConclusion: In both thoracic and extra thoracic malignancies lung parenchymal and air wayrnmetastasis is the commonest with multinodular pattern followed by lymphatic spread. The others rn2rn rnrdrn site is rnare mediastinal, pleural and chest wall metastasis respectively. Calcific metastasis has significantrnpositive correlation with sarcomas.