A detailed review of the diagnosis and treatment of hamartoma

Just hearing others say that hamartoma is difficult to treat and will have a significant impact on the life and the patient himself, but there are still a large number of people who do not understand this disease, so when they suffer from hamartoma, they delay treatment. Let us now learn about the diagnosis and treatment review of hamartoma.

The diagnosis of hamartoma mainly relies on X-ray examination, and most of them are discovered accidentally during routine X-ray examination. X-rays show uniform and dense shadows, or uneven shadows, and calcification. The calcification shadow presents a popcorn-like pattern, and the density of the peripheral part is relatively low, which may be adipose tissue. The popcorn sign is a characteristic manifestation of pulmonary hamartoma, but it is rare and not unique to pulmonary hamartoma.

Auxiliary examination: (i) X-ray chest examination is the main method. The chest film shows a single round or oval shadow with smooth edges of varying sizes, which may be lobed. Calcification or low-density shadows can sometimes be seen in the tumor. (ii) CT chest scan is more helpful for diagnosis. (iii) Transthoracic lung biopsy is helpful for the diagnosis of peripheral lung tumors.

Treatment of Hamartoma:

Pulmonary hamartomas found during health examinations are sometimes difficult to distinguish from malignant tumors in the lungs because there is no dynamic observation. Pulmonary hamartomas that grow rapidly in a short period of time are also difficult to diagnose. Therefore, when clinical and X-ray findings cannot rule out malignant tumors, surgery should be performed as soon as possible. Even for benign hamartomas, early surgery can avoid complications such as pneumonia, atelectasis, and bronchiectasis caused by tumor growth, which can aggravate or complicate the condition.

The operation is performed under general anesthesia. After opening the chest, the tumor can be seen on the surface of the lung. It is hard and not smooth. You can feel the tumor sliding in the lung tissue. The tumor can be completely removed by cutting the lung tissue and separating it slightly. Except for endobronchial hamartoma or other possible malignant tumors, local resection or lung segment resection is generally performed.