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Interstitial InfiltrateAka: Pulmonary Infiltrate, Kerley's Lines

Signs
1. No or minimal signs of Alveolar Infiltrate
2. Diffuse infiltrate
3. Follow distribution of pulmonary vessels
4. Honeycombing indicates advanced interstitial disease
5. Lung base appears more radiodense than apice
Types of Interstitial Infiltrates
1. Reticular infiltrates
  1. Short linear and curved densities
  2. Irregular distribution
2. Nodular densities
  1. Discrete, round small densities
3. Miliary densities
  1. Many small regular densities of similar size
4. Kerley's Lines
  1. General: Thickened septae or congested lymphatics
    1. Left Congestive Heart Failure
    2. Lymphangitic carcinoma
  2. Kerley A Lines
    1. Long linear upper lobe shadows
    2. Oriented perpendicular to pleura
  3. Kerley B Lines
    1. Short linear horizontal shadows
    2. Occur near costophrenic angles of lower lobes
  4. Kerley C Lines
    1. Spider web network of lines anywhere in lung

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.