Lung Biopsy Findings in Severe Pulmonary Illness Associated With E-Cigarette Use (Vaping).

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this report is to describe the lung biopsy findings in vaping-associated pulmonary illness. METHODS: Lung biopsies from eight patients with vaping-associated pulmonary illness were reviewed. RESULTS: The biopsies were from eight men (aged 19-61 years) with respiratory symptoms following e-cigarette use (vaping). Workup for infection was negative in all cases, and there was no evidence for other etiologies. Imaging showed diffuse bilateral ground-glass opacities in all patients. Most recovered with corticosteroid therapy, while one died. Lung biopsies (seven transbronchial, one surgical) showed acute lung injury, including organizing pneumonia and/or diffuse alveolar damage. Common features were fibroblast plugs, hyaline membranes, fibrinous exudates, type 2 pneumocyte hyperplasia, and interstitial organization. Some cases featured a sparse interstitial chronic inflammatory infiltrate. Although macrophages were present within the airspaces in all cases, this feature was not prominent, and findings typical of exogenous lipoid pneumonia were absent. CONCLUSIONS: The histopathology of acute pulmonary illness related to e-cigarette use (vaping) is characterized by acute lung injury patterns, supporting the contention that vaping can cause severe lung damage.

Follicular thyroid carcinoma presenting as a massive chest wall tumor.

The initial presentation of follicular thyroid carcinoma is rarely related to metastatic lesions. Presented here is the case of a 70-year-old woman with the initial presentation of a 13-cm chest wall mass identified as a metastatic follicular thyroid carcinoma. The chest wall lesion had features of a poorly differentiated carcinoma with areas of necrosis, an insular growth pattern focally and increased mitotic activity. A small follicular carcinoma was subsequently identified. The primary tumor was a 1-cm well-differentiated follicular carcinoma with capsular and vascular invasion. This represents a rare presentation of a follicular thyroid carcinoma with initial recognition of a large, dedifferentiated metastatic lesion from a small primary carcinoma. Dedifferentiation and metastasis in the context of microcarcinoma is an exceptionally rare event and suggests other mechanisms may be involved in disease spread other than simply increased cell proliferation.