The Roentgen Diagnosis of Atelectasis

Abstract

ATELECTASIS is not diagnosed with entire satisfaction by means of the x-ray, owing partly to a lack of unanimity as to the definition of the term, and partly to a lack of pathognomonic signs. The situation regarding the first cause is as follows. Standard text-books of pathology refer to atelectasis as a totally airless state of the entire lungs, or of any part of them, with collapse of the small airways and alveoli (the walls of these compartments lying in direct contact with one another, 1). This refers alike to the three recognized types of the disease—congenital, obstructive, and compressive. Most clinical writers have adhered to these criteria, but recently some have extended the meaning of the term to include nearly all conditions in which it is evident from examination of the living subject that the lung is denser than normal and reduced in size, regardless of the nature of the consolidation. For instance, Coryllos and Birnbaum (2) call pneumococcal pneumonia and atelectasis one and the same diseas...