Subtraction CTA merged into nonenhanced cranial bone with 50% skull transparency provides a feasible method to identify the anatomical relation between venous sinus and surface landmarks of cranium, which is significantly varied among individuals, so it is not accurate to determine venous sinus in posterior fossa merely using surface landmarks.
OBJECTIVES:To clarify differences between solitary pulmonary inflammatory lesions and peripheral lung cancers with contrast-enhanced computed tomography.METHODS:In total, 64 and 132 patients with solitary pulmonary inflammatory masses/nodules and peripheral lung cancers, respectively, were enrolled in this study. Their computed tomographic findings were summarized and compared retrospectively.RESULTS:Compared with the peripheral lung cancers, the inflammatory lesions were located closer to the pleura (p<0.0001). The majority of the inflammatory lesions were patchy and oval-shaped (82.8%), whereas most of the tumors were lobulated (82.6%). Almost all the inflammatory cases were unclear (93.8%), whereas most of the tumors had spiculated margins (72.7%). Computed tomography values were significantly higher for the inflammatory lesions than for the cancers (p<0.0001). More than half of the inflammatory lesions had defined necrosis (59.3%). Furthermore, 49.2% of the cancers enhanced inhomogeneously, but only 24.6% had ill-defined necrosis or cavities. The peripheral zones of 98.4% of the inflammatory lesions and 72.7% of the tumors were unclear, with peripheral scattered patches (92.2%) and beam-shaped opacity (66.7%) being the most common findings, respectively. Adjacent pleural thickening was more frequent for the inflammatory lesions than the cancers (95.3% vs. 21.1%, p<0.0001), whereas pleural indentation was found in 67.4% of the subjects with cancer. In addition, hilar (p=0.034) and mediastinal (p=0.003) lymphadenopathy were more commonly detected in the cancers than in the inflammatory cases.CONCLUSIONS:Contrast-enhanced computed tomography findings for pulmonary inflammatory lesions and peripheral lung cancers were significantly different in many aspects. Developing a comprehensive understanding of these differences is helpful for directing their management.
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