ABSTRACT
Objective:
to determine, in pediatric patients with malignant neoplasms, the characteristics of pulmonary nodules identified on computed tomography, as well as the possibility of differentiating benign lesions from metastases.
Methods:
we conducted a retrospective study of patients submitted to pulmonary resections of nodules diagnosed as metastases in a period of seven years. We compared computed tomography and surgery findings, as well as results of anatomopathological examinations.
Results:
we studied nine patients submitted to 11 surgical interventions. Among the studied variables, only nodule size greater than 12.5mm proved to be statistically significant to predict malignancy.
Conclusion:
among the tomographic characteristics of pulmonary nodules in children with malignant neoplasms, only the size of the lesion was a predictor of malignancy.
Keywords:
Lung Neoplasms; Neoplasm Metastasis/diagnostic imaging; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Osteosarcoma. Thoracotomy; Child