Pulmonary lymphatic drainage to the mediastinum based on computed tomographic observations of the primary complex of pulmonary histoplasmosis.

BACKGROUND: In the primary infection of pulmonary histoplasmosis, pulmonary lesions are commonly solitary and associated with hilar and/or mediastinal nodal diseases, which spontaneously resolve, resulting in calcifications in individuals with normal cellular immunity.

PURPOSE: To assess the lymphatic drainage to the mediastinum from each pulmonary segment and lobe using computed tomographic (CT) observations of a calcified primary complex pulmonary histoplasmosis and predict which patients with N2 disease that would benefit from surgery.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We collected 585 CT studies of patients with primary complex histoplasmosis consisting of solitary calcified pulmonary lesions and calcified hilar and/or mediastinal nodal disease. Using the N stage criteria of non-small cell lung cancer, we assessed the distribution of the involved hilar and mediastinal nodes depending on the pulmonary segment of the lesion, with a focus on skip involvement. We also assessed the correlation between the incidence of N1 and skip N2 involvement and the mean number of involved mediastinal nodal stations in the non-skip N2 and skip N2 groups.

RESULTS: Skip involvement was common in the apical segment (9/45, 20.0%), posterior segment (7/31, 22.6%), and mediolbasal segment (13/20, 65.0%) in the right lung, and in the apicoposterior segment (7/55, 12.7%), lateral basal segment (6/26, 23.1%), and posterobasal segment (16/47, 34.0%) in the left lung. The incidence of skip involvement in each segment showed a significant inverse correlation with that of N1 involvement (r = -0.51, P <0.05) in both lungs. The mean number of involved mediastinal nodal stations in the non-skip N2 and skip N2 groups in all segments of both lungs were 1.4 (434/301) and 1.2 (93/77), and the former was significantly greater than the latter (P <0.01).

CONCLUSION: Our data showed a predictable pattern of segmental and lobar lymphatic drainage to the mediastinum and suggested that skip involvement could represent the initial mediastinal node involvement via direct lymphatic drainage.