[The contribution of computerized tomography to the diagnosis of diffuse pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis. Apropos of a case].

The authors report a case of lymphangiomatosis (LAM) proven histologically in a 49 year old female. This case benefitted from very detailed CT-scanning (IDM) with characteristic images obtained from the thorax and bilateral renal tumours suggestive of angiomyolipomas. This association seems to be quasi-pathognomic of the disease. The discovery at CT-scanning of cerebral calcification raises a possible connection of LAM with Bourneville's tuberous sclerosis. This CT-scanning study has several points of interest: the early diagnosis of pulmonary lesions which are under evaluated by standard radiography; a complete inventory of the possible localisations of the disease; it enables a possible diagnosis in very frail patients in whom a lung biopsy would be a risk; an ability to assess further progress as there also exists a good correlation between the extent of the disease assessed by TDM and the disturbance in pulmonary function.