[High-resolution computer tomography in the diagnosis of cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis. Correlation with pulmonary function and bronchoalveolar lavage].

BACKGROUND

High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) revealed new findings as regards changes associated with cryptogenic fibrotizing alveolitis. So far views on changes suggesting activity of the disease are not uniform and they were not yet confronted with examinations of fluid obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage (BALT). The objective of the present work is to evaluate the contribution of HRCT to the assessment of the activity of the disease and compare the findings with the examination of BALT.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The authors evaluated the HRCT examination made in 52 patients with histologically confirmed cryptogenic fibrotizing alveolitis and in 39 of them the finding was confronted with the BALT examination. Signs of active inflammatory disease according to HRCT comprised a ground-glass increase of the density in 80.8%, centrilobular micronodules in 17.3% and a prominence of centrilobular structures in 32.7%. The suggested extent of affection of the pulmonary parenchyma assessed according to HRCT correlated well with the degree of dyspnoea, restrictive and obstructive ventilation disorder, pulmonary diffusion and with hypoxaemia. The authors confirmed also an inverse correlation between the grade assessed by HRCT and the percentage of lymphocytes in BALT.

CONCLUSIONS

The investigation confirmed the contribution of HRCT in the diagnosis of patients with cryptogenic fibrotizing alveolitis, it confirmed the complementary importance of HRCT and BALT examination when assessing the activity of the disease and its asset when monitoring patients during treatment.