Nonneoplastic Pulmonary Masses: Part I - Infectious and Congenital Disorders

Pulmonary masses are a commonly identified in thoracic imaging. In any clinical scenario a lung mass should raise suspicion for a malignant neoplasm. However, there are multiple non-neoplastic diseases that can also manifest as pulmonary masses. Therefore, certain risk factors, imaging findings, and clinical features should lean the scale to favor the diagnosis of specific benign diseases. Differentiation between malignant and benign disorders is critical to avoid unnecessary interventions. This article (the first part of a two-part series) focuses on infectious and congenital disorders. Vascular and miscellaneous entities will be discussed in the second part.