Role of the chest radiography,spirometry, and high resolution computed tomography in the early diagnosis of the emphysema

Purpose

This study was performed to evaluate the role of the chest radiography pulmonary function tests, and HRCT in the early diagnosis of the emphysema.

Materials and methods

The study included 50 patients who had emphysema. Average age varies between 40 and 60 years. All patients were subjected to full history, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, cardiac investigations, chest radiography, pulmonary function tests and HRCT.

Results

I found high sensitivity of the HRCT in the early diagnosis of emphysema if compared with sensitivity of the chest radiography and pulmonary function tests.

Conclusions

HRCT has much greater sensitivity than chest radiography in early diagnosing of emphysema. HRCT is also capable of differentiating between the various types of emphysema and assessing its severity. The presence of emphysema can be suspected on chest radiography but this is not a sensitive technique for diagnosis. Also the chest radiography is not a very good indicator for the severity of disease. In addition a precise characterization of the emphysema by HRCT is desirable for adequate therapy and monitoring as well as preoperative assessment of the patient before surgical treatment of emphysema. Compared to spirometry, HRCT shows regional assessment of compartments involved (airways, parenchyma and vasculature). Moreover spirometry has no definite sensitivity.