Anesthesia-induced pulmonary macroatelectasis: a cause of false-positive computerized tomography

In three pediatric patients having CT of the chest done under general anesthesia, we encountered multiple areas of macroatelectasis in the lung. All patients had malignant disease, and the chest findings could have been interpreted as metastatic spread to the lung. To prevent this critical false-positive diagnosis, we believe general anesthesia for CT of the chest should be given with controlled rather than spontaneous ventilation.