Uremic Lung
Pulmonary edema in a young adult male secondary to uremia. Note the characteristic bilateral perihilar or partial bat-wing appearance of the alveolar filling process, which in this case is confined entirely to the mid lung zones. The heart is normal in size and there is no pleural fluid present.
27 cases of uremia with abnormal appearances on the chest films were analysed. The results showed that the clinical features were cough, expectoration dyspnea and hemoptysis. However, the degree of these symptoms was relatively mild as judged from the amount of pulmonary edema found on the chest films. The chest X-ray finding in these group of patients were characterized by pulmonary blood stasis, interstitial edema of the lung and edematous alveoli. The pathogenesis of uremic lung was said to be related to blood urea nitrogen and creatinine retention and the concurrent presence of left side heart failure may also play a role. Hemodialysis and other comprehensive treatments could help the patients with uremic lung for relief the symptoms. But the fundamental managements to improve the prognosis for this disease are early treatment of the primary renal diseases, in order to prevent the occurrence of renal failure. Kidney transplantation should be advised.
1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2632029
2. http://gamuts.isradiology.org/data/images/ID1920.htm