COMPARATIVE ACCURACY OF HIGH­ RESOLUTION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (HRCT) AND CHEST RADIOGRAPHY IN THE DIAGNOSIS ' OF CHRONIC INFILTRATIVE LUNG DISEASE

Abstract

This work is a comparative study of accuracy of plain X-ray versus HRCT in the diagnosis of DILD in 50 patients. They were referred from Department of chest diseases Assiut University Hospital. They were 16 males and 34 females. Their ages ranged from 10 to 71 years. Every patient had been subjected to the following :

(1) Full history taking. (2) Clinical examination. (3) Laboratory investigations. (4) Plain chest X-ray. (5) HRCT chest.

The most common clinical presentation was cough & expectoration & dyspnea. All patients had abnormal or questionably abnormal chest radiographs. The most common radiographic finding was reticulonodular opacties of both lung fields. The lower zone were the most commonly • affected. Fourty patients could be grouped into one of the following diseases (CFA (n=22), HP (n=l2), RA (n=3), LC(n=2) & SLE (n=1)). In ten patients reliable diagnosis cannot be made.

On performing HRCT the commonest abnonnality in CFA was peripheral rion nodular abnormalities, Nodular abnormalities was the out standing feature in HP together with septal interstitial thickening. In patients with RA peripheral non nodular abnormalities were dominent. In LC nodular thickening of the axial interstitium was prominent. In SLE diffuse, non • nodular, peripheral abnormality was observed