Related Experiment Videos
[Diagnosis of broncholithiasis. Role of high resolution tomodensitometry]
G Ferretti1, M Coulomb, F Blanc-Jouvan
1Service central de Radiologie et Imagerie Médicale, CHU de Grenoble.
Purpose:
to evaluate high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in the diagnosis of broncholithiasis.
Patients And Methods:
10 patients with broncholithiasis underwent chest X ray, fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB), CT and HRCT.
Results:
in 9 cases, chest X rays were abnormal but the diagnosis of broncholithiasis can't never be affirmed. In 9 cases, FOB was abnormal: broncholith were identified in only 2 cases; the other diagnosis were tumor like stenosis (n = 3), inflammatory stenosis (n = 3), extrinsic compression (n = 1). On conventional CT scan, broncholithiasis was suspected in 8 patients but because of volume averaging the relationship between calcified lymph nodes and bronchial tree was difficult to determine exactly. Only HRCT sections, sometimes tilted in the axis of the middle lobar bronchus, can affirm the endobronchial or peribronchial location of calcified lymph nodes in all patients.
Conclusion:
conventional CT scan can suggest the presence of broncholithiasis but HRCT sections are need to affirm the diagnosis.