The potential for thrombotic pulmonary infarc­tion should be considered in patients with nodular lung infiltrates even when D-dimer values are nor­mal, and were determined by less sensitive methods or long after the occurrence of symptoms. Although venous thrombosis is a rare complication of open lung biopsies, testing for thrombophilic states in such patients may help the recognition of a hyper-coagulable state and the implementation of appro­priate antithrombotic prophylaxis after any surgical procedure is carried out.