4128 Airways disease

Abstract

Patients with airways disease are a common part of clinical practice. As a group they often present with dyspnea, obstructive physiology on pulmonary functions and are often cigarette smokers. The chest radiograph may demonstrate hyperinflation but is insensitive to the earliest stages of obstructive airways disease. A variety of abnormalities may be seen on chest CT including airway thickening and dilatation, cysts, hypoattenuation and atelectasis. High resolution chest CT may demonstrate a “tree-in-bud” pattern. Expiratory chest CT can provide early evidence of air trapping with a pattern of mosaic attenuation. The following diseases present to the clinician with varying combinations of dyspnea and obstructive or mixed pulmonary functions: Emphysema Respiratory bronchiolitis Langerhans Cell Histiocyotisis Sarcoidosis Bronchiolitis obliterans Lymphangioleiomyomatosis. The imaging findings in these diseases can limit the differential diagnosis and in some cases are diagnostic.