Calcified pulmonary artery thrombus diagnosed on the plain radiograph

Acute pulmonary artery occlusion is frequently a dramatic occurrence with a well recognized clinical spectrum. In contrast, a chronic occlusion of the pulmonary artery often awaits post-mortem diagnosis. We present a case diagnosed by chest radiograph. A nine-year-old male presented in August 1976 with areas of ischaemic necrosis of two toes on the left foot for which a lumbar sympathectomy was performed with regression of symptoms which did not recur. Five months later the patient developed acute myeloid leukaemia in the course of which consolidation of the right middle lobe occurred.