Table 1.

Comparison of nodule characteristics between lung metastasis and hematogenous disseminated tuberculosis

	Lung metastasis [35, 36]	Hematogenous disseminated tuberculosis (HDTB) [37, 38]
Sources	Hematogenous	Hematogenous
Cancer history	Yes	No
Anatomical distribution	Scatter within two lung fields, but mostly distribute in the middle and lower lung field and surround subpleural lung tissues.	Acute HDTB	Subacute or chronic HDTB
		Randomly and evenly distribute in both lung fields	Randomly scatter in the two lung fields without uniformity the upper middle lung is more common
Nature	Solid density, ground glass density, or mixed density	Uniform density	Uneven density, may display tuberculous globules, or tuberculoma
Size	Variable	Uniform size, more miliary nodules	Variable
Boundary	Most of nodules have clear boundaries, but part of them not, showing cavity or ground glass opacity	Clear	Not clear, may display cavity or ground glass opacity
Accompanying symptoms	Mediastinal lymph node enlargement and pleural effusion	Mediastinal lymph node enlargement