Major imaging findings related to lung cancer
Findings include a pulmonary or endobronchial nodule or mass associated with obstructive (or resorptive) atelectasis or pneumonitis; thoracic lymphadenopathy; pleural, mediastinal, or chest wall involvement; or distant metastatic disease.
Sometimes, obstructive segmental or lobar atelectasis may be the only sign of lung cancer on chest radiography, particularly if no air bronchograms are present. When a peripheral concavity caused by obstructive atelectasis coexists with an associated focal central convexity caused by a central mass, an S-shaped smooth fissural margin results, which is known as the “S sign of Golden”
Unilateral hilar lymphadenopathy; unilateral pleural effusion (particularly when present on the left); abrupt occlusion of a bronchus (the “bronchial cutoff” sign); and obscuration of a hilar, mediastinal, or diaphragmatic structure (the “silhouette” sign) are other chest radiographic findings of pulmonary malignancy. Adenocarcinoma spectrum lesions may appear as a solitary nodule; subsolid pulmonary nodules; or solitary, multiple, or diffuse foci of chronic pulmonary consolidation. Cavitation or cystic change may be present