Benign Solitary Pulmonary Necrotic Nodules: How Effectively Does Pathological Examination Explain the Cause?

Table 1

Characteristics of the histopathological lesions.

Lesion	MT-positive/negative by PCR	AFB-positive/negative by EZN staining	Total MT-positive/negative
Granulomatous NN (n = 90)	54/36	21/69	56/34
Nongranulomatous NN (n = 24)	5/19	3/21	5/19
NN number
1 (n = 53)	19/34	3/50	19/34
>1 (n = 61)	40/21	21/40	42/19
NN size
≤1 cm (n = 35)	17/18	3/32	17/18
>1 cm (n = 79)	42/37	21/58	44/35
NN border
Smooth (n = 52)	27/25	6/46	27/26
Irregular (n = 62)	32/30	18/44	34/28
NN shape
Round (n = 57)	28/29	7/50	28/29
Triangular (n = 6)	3/3	1/5	3/3
Amorphous (n = 51)	28/23	16/35	30/21
Necrotic quality
Caseified (n = 79)	46/33	22/57	48/31
Infarctoid (n = 17)	7/10	2/15	7/10
Nuclear debris (n = 18)	6/12	0/18	6/12
Granuloma around the NN
Yes (n = 56)	42/14	19/37	44/12
No (n = 58)	17/41	5/53	17/41
Vasculitis
Yes (n = 29)	12/17	8/21	14/15
No (n = 85)	47/38	16/69	47/38
Surrounding parenchyma
Normal (n = 35)	19/16	6/29	19/16
Emphysema (n = 28)	12/16	3/25	12/16
Bronchiolitis (n = 15)	10/5	6/9	10/5
Lipoid pneumonia (n = 2)	1/1	0/2	1/1
Interstitial pneumonia (n = 30)	14/16	9/21	16/14
Interstitial fibrosis (n = 3)	3/0	0/3	3/0
Organized pneumonia (n = 1)	0/1	0/1	0/1

MT: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; EZN: Ehrlich–Ziehl–Neelsen stain; NN: necrotic nodule.