Value of the lateral view in diagnosing pleural plaques

To assess the value of the lateral view in the diagnosis of pleural plaques, 2018 chest roentgenograms from the general population were scrutinized for such plaques. The lateral and posterior-anterior (PA) views were read separately and without knowledge of the occupational history or other clinical data. Of the males, 4.8% had pleural plaques in the PA view and 2% had dorsal pleural plaques in the lateral view. A total of 54% of the positive cases in the PA view also showed dorsal plaques in the lateral view, while 69% of those with dorsal plaques also showed typical plaques in the PA view. Thus, there remained a number of cases which were diagnosed only in the lateral view; in all, these constituted 18.8%.