Pulmonary nodular lesions in bone marrow transplant recipients: impact of histologic diagnosis on patient management and prognosis.

Bone marrow transplantation is associated with numerous pulmonary complications, which may manifest as nodules. We studied 33 bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients in whom pulmonary nodular lesions (PNLs) developed during a 5-year period and who underwent open lung biopsy (OLB) for diagnosis. Of 33 patients with PNL, 15 (45%) had pulmonary cytolytic thrombi (PCT), a recently described condition characterized histologically by occlusive vascular lesions and hemorrhagic infarcts and clinically by a favorable outcome.