Emphysema and smoking-related lung diseases

Abstract

•. Smoking-related lung diseases are a heterogeneous group of diseases that can overlap, and coexistence of individual disease processes is well recognised. •. The imaging and histopathological findings of each of these entities, excluding lung cancer, are described. Smoking-related lung diseases are a heterogeneous group of diseases that include lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, desquamative interstitial pneumonia, respiratory bronchiolitis-related interstitial lung disease, pulmonary Langerhans' cell histiocytosis, acute eosinophilic pneumonia and interstitial fibrosis. High-resolution CT is highly sensitive for the detection of abnormalities in the lung parenchyma and airways. The imaging and histopathological findings in smoking-related interstitial lung disease can overlap, and co-existence of individual disease processes is well recognised. The aim of this paper is to describe the most important aspects of each of these entities, excluding lung cancer.