[Helical CT for lung-cancer screening: fourth report. Detectability of pulmonary lesions]

The detectability of various abnormal findings in helical screening CT(HSCT) with low-dose and single-breath-hold scanning of the lung was examined using conventional CT as a gold standard. In 75 patients, HSCT was obtained with scanning parameters of 120kVp, 50 mA, 10 mm-collimation. 20 mm/second and 1 sec/rotation. Conventional CT was obtained with 150 mA and 10 mm-slice contiguous scanning HSCT depicted 141 of 159 focal lesions in nodules and masses (65 of 69 lesions more than 5mm in size), 44 of 47 in infiltrative lesions, 11 of 11 in reticular lesions and 23 of 39 in bullae and blebs. There were only 3 false positive lesions in nodule and mass. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of HSCT for diffuse lesions were 100% (11/11), 95% (61/64) and 96% (72/75) for fibrotic change and 75% (9/12), 100% (63/63) and 96% (72/75) for emphysematous change, respectively. Since the detectability of HSCT was good for abnormal findings, showing increased attenuation in comparison with the lung parenchyma, it was considered to be a promising method for lung-cancer screening.