$re = '/\d+(?:\.\d+)?(?:(?:x\d+(?:\.\d+)?)*)?(?=[ \t]+[cm]m)/m';
$str = 'The study reveals a speculated nodule with pleural tagging at anterior basal segment of LLL, measured 1.9x1.4x2.0 cm in size
Other two ill defined, small ground glass lesions measured 4.0 mm and 3 mm in size, respectively.
The study reveals a speculated nodule with pleural tagging at anterior basal segment of LLL, measured 1.9x1.4x2.0 cm in size
Other two ill defined, small ground glass lesions measured 4.0 mm and 3 mm in size, respectively.';
$subst = "\1 [[replacement]]";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$result;
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php