HRCT findings of pulmonary sarcoidosis; relation to pulmonary function tests

Abstract

BackgroundChest-X-ray has several limitations in detecting the extent of pulmonary disease in sarcoidosis. It might not reflect the degree of pulmonary involvement in patients with sarcoidosis when compared to computed tomography of the thorax. We aimed to investigate the HRCT findings of pulmonary sarcoidosis and to find out the existence of possible relations between HRCT findings and PFTs. In addition, we aimed to investigate the accordance between HRCT findings and conventional chest-X-ray staging of pulmonary sarcoidosis.Method45 patients with sarcoidosis with a mean age 29.7+/− 8.4 years were evaluated. Six of them were female and 39 were male. The type, distribution and extent of the parameters on HRCT/CTs were evaluated and scored. Chest-X-rays were evaluated for the stage of pulmonary sarcoidosis. Correlations were investigated between HRCT/CT parameter scores, Chest X-Ray stages and pulmonary function parameters.ResultsNodule, micronodule, ground glass opacity and consolidation were the most common HRCT findings. There were significant correlations between pulmonary function parameters, HRCT pattern scores, and chest-X-ray stages. A significant correlation between chest-x-ray score and total HRCT score was found.ConclusionsPulmonary sarcoidosis patients might have various pulmonary parenchymal changes on HRCT. Thorax HRCT was superior to chest-X-ray in detecting pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities. The degree of pulmonary involvement might be closely related to the loss of pulmonary function measured by PFTs. Chest-X-ray is considered to have a role in the evaluation of pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis- A Clinicoradiological Profile of 30 Patients

“…38 In present study, the most common stage of sarcoidosis on presentation was found to be stage II (46.6 %) followed by stage I (40%). (The details of different radiographic stages of sarcoidosis patients in various Indian 6,16-17,21,37,39-43 & international 18,34,36,38,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] studies are summarised in table 2 and table 3).…”

Relationship between radiologic patterns, pulmonary function values and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells in newly diagnosed sarcoidosis

“…We hypothesize that the number of micronodules might reflect the extent of lung involvement and those pulmonary function parameters might decrease. A previous study (14) showed that there were significant correlations between spirometric values and micronodules scores. The loss of pulmonary function in pulmonary sarcoidosis was found to be related to the amount of micronodules in HRCT (38).…”

“…Recently, the correlation between disease severity in CT, functional impairment and radiographic stages of sarcoidosis, as well as pulmonary function tests (PFT) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cells, have been discussed in the literature (5,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27). However, few systematic evaluations exist exploring the relationships between the various HRCT findings (e.g., micronodules, macronodules, irregular linear opacities, interlobular septal thickening, fibrotic changes, etc.…”

Four Decades of Necrotizing Sarcoid Granulomatosis: What Do We Know Now?

“…A study 135 of 17 patients using high-resolution chest CT published in 2004 found small nodules measuring 2 to 5 mm in diameter in 100% of cases, typically distributed in peribronchovascular and subpleural lung areas. A 2013 report 136 of high-resolution CT findings in 45 patients revealed micronodules in 91% and nodules in 82%. It should be emphasized that the current concept of NS is based primarily on the finding in plain chest films of relatively large nodules that can simulate the appearance of metastatic or primary neoplasms.…”