Efficacy of whole lung tomography in diagnosing metastases from solid tumors in children.

Whole lung, frontal tomography is compared with frontal chest radiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary metastasis in children with cancer. Of 79 patients studied, 65 had a total of 195 routine tomograms. In only 2.7% of studies did tomography yield new information, and in only 1% was an additional lesion visualized. In 27 patients, tomography was performed after an abnormality was seen on the chest radiograph. New information was obtained in 15 (32%) of those 47 studies; additional nodules were identified on six occasions (four metastatic, two inflammatory), but only once was treatment altered. In one study, tomography localized a nodule seen only on a lateral chest radiograph, and in eight studies it excluded metastasis following an abnormal frontal chest radiograph.