[Pulmonary aspergillomas. Analysis of 31 patients].

Thirty-one patients with pulmonary aspergilloma were studied retrospectively, leading to the following main findings: 1) Men are most often affected (90% of cases). 2) Diagnosis occurs significantly more often when the patient is between 50 to 60 years of age. 3) Aspergilloma originates most often in residual pulmonary tuberculosis (74% of cases). 4) The incidence of hemoptysis was high (87% of patients). Traditional tomography afforded images that were diagnostically useful in 77.4% of the cases, whereas simple X-rays were useful in only 38.7%. 6) In 94% aspergilloma occurred in the upper lobes. 7) Aspergillus was found in respiratory secretions in 55%. 8) Serum samples were positive for Aspergillus precipitins in 94.4%. 9) Forty-eight percent did not meet criteria for surgical intervention. 10) Noteworthy features of the course of the disease were that spontaneous lysis occurred in 13.6% and that hemoptysis led to death in 9%.