A now obsolete procedure for the treatment of tuberculosis, thoracoplasty, was performed in an era before the advent of effective antibiotic treatment regimes. It was undertaken largely in the earlier decades of the 1900’s.
Regardless, a number of elderly patients are still alive who may present to hospital and be imaged, in addition to it being an ‘Aunt Minnie’ film for exams.
The distinct, and alarming appearance to the untrained observer, reflects the surgery to oliberate the pleural space involving the resection of several ribs to cause collapse of the lung or lobes of it.
References:
1. www.learningradiology.com
2. www.lung.ca
Credit: Dr Ian Bickle
