[Assessment of fluid content of the lung by thoracic radiography. Comparison of extravascular lung water measurement and results of radiological estimation methods].

Extravascular lung water (EVLW) was determined with the thermal-dye double-indicator method (119 individual measurements) in 23 patients in an intensive-care unit, and the results were compared with estimates made from largely standardized portable chest X-ray films, using the staging method of Sibbald as well as that of Halperin. There was a significant correlation with the measured EVLW for both methods. Radiologically "normal" films corresponded to a mean EVLW value of 8.4 ml/kg body-weight. Radiologically judged adjacent stages did not in all cases compare with corresponding measured EVLW values. But when EVLW values were clearly abnormal, the X-ray films always demonstrated massive interstitial or alveolar infiltrations. Measurement of EVLW enables one accurately to judge the fluid contents of the lung and is superior to the assessment of the chest X-ray film.