Patient's question:
Recently, I've been experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath. The hospital examination indicated a respiratory disease, but the medication hasn't been very effective. Recently, my cough has worsened. How can I differentiate between bullae, alveolar emphysema, and pulmonary cysts?Doctor's answer:
The main difference lies in the size. Generally, bullae are determined on CT scans and are usually hollow structures larger than one centimeter. Alveolar micropapules are usually less than one centimeter on CT scans or invisible, or only visible during surgery as bubble-like structures. In contrast, pulmonary cysts differ from bullae and micropapules; they are actually structural abnormalities that occur during lung development. On imaging, both bullae and micropapules are thin-walled, meaning the bubbles are thin, like balloons, while pulmonary cysts generally have thick walls.