Acute respiratory distress syndrome: CT findings during partial liquid ventilation.

To describe the computed tomographic (CT) appearance of perflubron-filled lungs during partial liquid ventilation to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome, scans of the thorax were obtained in nine patients between June 1994 and December 1995. The distribution of perflubron was gravity dependent in four patients, with a mean interval of 6.25 days between scanning and perflubron administration; was patchy in four patients (mean interval, 16 days); and was homogeneous in one patient (interval, 3 days). Extraparenchymal perflubron was seen in intrathoracic lymph nodes (n = 4), supraclavicular nodes (n = 2), axillary nodes (n = 1), and both the retroperitoneum and the mediastinum (n = 2). In one patient, perflubron was seen in a pneumatocele and the pleural space. The distribution of perflubron in the lungs is typically gravity dependent.