Pediatric pulmonary CT-scanning. Anaesthesia-induced changes

Forty three lung scans, obtained in 29 anaesthetized children, were evaluated and compared with 85 scans performed in 52 sedated children. Confluent high absorptive areas in the lower parts of the lungs were found in 35 (81%) of the scans performed in children under general anaesthesia but such areas were not found in the scans performed under sedation.--For general anaesthesia, halothane-N2O-O2 was used in all but one patient. The radiological changes are presumably due to a fall in functional residual capacity with consequent airway closure.--It is important not to misinterpret these anaesthesia-induced pulmonary changes which may obscure or mimic true pathological lesions, such as parenchymal and pleural metastases.