[INFORMATIVITY OF COMPUTER DENSITOMETRY FOR ASSESSING THE DEGREE OF ACTIVITY OF THE INFLAMMATORY PROCESS IN PULMONARY...

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Pulmonology
• Pathology

Background:

• Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and management require accurate assessment of inflammatory activity.
• Histopathological analysis of resected tissue is a definitive but invasive method for evaluating inflammation.
• Non-invasive imaging techniques are needed to objectively quantify disease activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish the correlation between chest computed tomography (CT) densitometric indicators and the degree of inflammatory activity in pulmonary tuberculosis.
• To validate computer densitometry as an objective, non-invasive method for assessing specific inflammatory processes in the lungs.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of histopathological findings from resected lung tissue in 65 pulmonary tuberculosis patients (39 male, 25 female, aged 24-60).
• Measurement of densitometric indicators (average, minimum, maximum density values) on fixed areas of axial CT scan sections.
• Correlation of CT densitometry results with histopathological data.

Main Results:

• Computer densitometry demonstrated a high degree of confidence in establishing the activity of specific inflammatory processes.
• The average, minimum, and maximum density values on CT scans accurately reflected the histological structure of the inflammatory focus.
• CT densitometry successfully identified areas with high activity of the specific inflammatory process.

Conclusions:

• Computer densitometry is an objective and non-invasive research method for assessing inflammatory activity in pulmonary tuberculosis.
• CT densitometry provides reliable data that correlates with histopathological findings, aiding in disease assessment.
• This technique allows for the identification of highly active inflammatory areas, improving diagnostic accuracy.