High Resolution Computed Tomography Findings of Interstitial Lung Diseases: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Interstitial lung diseases encompass diffuse involvement of parenchymal tissue of lung. Before the use of computed tomography for diagnosis of diseases, radiography was the only existing imaging procedure available for diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases, which had substantial drawbacks when compared to the former. Aim: To evaluate the pattern of various Interstitial lung diseases by High-Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT). Materials and Methods: The study was a descriptive cross- sectional, carried out at Department of Radio-Diagnosis of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Solapur. The study was initiated in November 2010 and terminated in July 2012. Ninety patients were included during the study period. Patients having pulmonary symptoms related to any acute/chronic interstitial or diffuse pulmonary disease with significant radiographic findings of chest and willing to participate in the study were recruited in the study. The descriptive statistics (count, frequency and proportion) was applied using Microsoft Excel. Results: HRCT reports of 10 patients (11%) were normal. Of the 80 (89%) patients who showed significant HRCT findings, 28 (31%), 26 (29%), and 26 (29%) were diagnosed with interstitial, cystic and airspace abnormality, respectively. Among the patients with Interstitial lung disease, most of the patients were diagnosed with Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis 21 (75%) followed by hypersensitivity pneumonitis 5 (18%). Conclusion: HRCT is very effective in visualising the distorted architecture of lung parenchyma in patients with acute and chronic presentations of interstitial lung pathology.