| Abstrakt: |
Four cases of malignant melanoma metastatic to the bronchopulmonary tree demonstrate the wide array of clinical, chest x-ray film and bronchoscopic findings seen in this entity. The clinical presentations described include wheezing, hemoptysis with severe dyspnea, an asymptomatic state, and a generalized systemic illness, with chest pain, fever and respiratory failure. The respective chest x-ray findings are atelectasis of a single lobe, atelectasis of an entire lung, multiple discrete parenchymal nodules and a fine miliary pattern. Bronchoscopic examination in three of the four cases also emphasizes the great variability of this disease in that one patient had amelanotic endobronchial lesions, a second had a darkly pigmented endobronchial tumor and the third had the striking finding of diffuse melanosis of the airways. |
