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Pulmonary Bleb
Aka: Pulmonary Bleb, Lung Bleb, Lung Bullae, Pulmonary Bullae
- Definitions
- Pulmonary Bleb
- Small (<1-2 cm), thin walled (<1 mm) air containing spaces within the lung
- Pulmonary Bullae
- Larger (>1-2 cm) air containing spaces within the lung
- A Pulmonary Bulla may be a coalescence of Pulmonary Blebs
- Pathophysiology
- Blebs and Bullae form as a result of subpleural alveolar rupture
- Risk Factors
- Tobacco Abuse
- Thin Patient
- COPD
- Differential Diagnosis
- Pneumatocele (post-Pneumonia)
- Pneumothorax
- Cystic Bronchiectasis
- Cavitary Lung Disease
- Cystic Lung Disease
- Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)
- Pulmonary Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (PLCH)
- Birt-Hogg-Dube Syndrome (BHD)
- Lymphoid Interstitial Pneumonia (LIP)
- Complications
- Pneumothorax
- Bullae secondary infection
- Giant Bullous Emphysema (Vanishing Lung Syndrome)
- Large bullae, in some cases filling the entire hemithorax
- May impair lung function
- Resources
- Lung Bleb (Radiopaedia)
- https://radiopaedia.org/articles/pulmonary-bleb?lang=us
- References
- Kumar and Kotloff (2018) Diagnostic Approach to the Adult with Cystic Lung Disease, UpToDate, accessed 8/5/2019
- Collins and Stern (2008) Chest Radiology, Wolters Kluwer, Philadelphia, p. 234-5