CT of chest; CT of thorax

^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Indications

evaluation of lung disease
- multidetector high-resolution CT is the imaging modality of choice for evaluating parenchymal lung disease^[1]
  - interstial lung disease
  - COPD^[5]
evaluation of pleural disease
evaluation of mediastinal disease
evaluation of aortic disease
evaluation of heart disease
- coronary artery disease
- cardiac masses
- pericardial disease
evaluation of esophageal disease

interstitial lung abnormalities in 8% of chest CT scans done 6 years apart
evidence of progression of interstitial lung abnormalities in 30%^[4]
evidence of osteoporosis^[5]
ratio of pulmonary artery diameter to the aortic diameter in patients with COPD of > 1 suggests pulmonary hypertension^[5]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Medical Knowledge Self Assessment Program (MKSAP) 16, 17. American College of Physicians, Philadelphia 2012, 2015
↑ Sarma A, Heilbrun ME, Conner KE et al Radiation and chest CT scan examinations: what do we know? Chest. 2012 Sep;142(3):750-60. Review. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22948579
↑ Sundaram B, Chughtai AR, Kazerooni EA. Multidetector high-resolution computed tomography of the lungs: protocols and applications. J Thorac Imaging. 2010 May;25(2):125-41. Review. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20463532
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Araki T et al. Development and progression of interstitial lung abnormalities in the Framingham Heart Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2016 Dec 15; 194:1514. http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.201512-2523OC
Wells AU, Kokosi MA. Subclinical interstitial lung abnormalities: Toward the early detection of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis? Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2016 Dec 15; 194:1445. http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/suppl/10.1164/rccm.201607-1363ED
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 Labali WW, Agusti A, Bhatt SP et al Leveraging Computed Tomography Imaging to Detect Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Concomitant Chronic Diseases. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2024 Aug 1;210(3):281-287. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38843079 PMCID: PMC11348973 (available on 2025-08-01) https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.202402-0407PP