The Spectrum of Diffuse Pulmonary Infiltration in Malignant Disease

¹ Formerly at Department of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Hospital; now at University of Colorado and General Rose Memorial Hospital, Denver, Colo.
² Department of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington, D.C.

The development of diffuse pulmonary infiltration in patients with known malignant disease represents a difficult diagnostic problem for the clinician. Although the lung biopsy is the only means to make a definite clinical diagnosis, it is our opinion that a correct clinical diagnosis can be made in a large majority of cases. The diffuse infiltrates may represent a manifestation of involvement of the lungs by the malignant disease, a complication of the management of the disease, or a superimposed infectious process. There are certain clinical and laboratory features which are characteristic of each of the three major categories. Attention to these features will usually imply specific diagnosis or will suggest appropriate diagnostic studies to differentiate between the various entities under consideration.