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European Radiology
Published in: European Radiology 7/2009

01-07-2009 | Chest

Whole-lung densitometry versus visual assessment of emphysema

Authors: Edoardo Cavigli, Gianna Camiciottoli, Stefano Diciotti, Ilaria Orlandi, Cheti Spinelli, Eleonora Meoni, Luca Grassi, Carmela Farfalla, Massimo Pistolesi, Fabio Falaschi, Mario Mascalchi

Published in: European Radiology | Issue 7/2009

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Abstract

We compared whole-lung densitometry with visual evaluation of pulmonary emphysema. Thirty patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease underwent multi-detector CT (150 mAs and 0.75 collimation) with double reconstruction: thick (5-mm) slices with smooth filter for whole-lung densitometry and thin (1 mm) slices with sharp filter for visual assessment (one of every ten slices). Densitometry and visual assessment were performed by three operators each, and the time required for assessment, the inter-observer agreement and the correlation with the results of the diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide (DLCO) in the same patients were computed. The average time for densitometry (8.49 ± 0.13 min) was significantly longer (p < 0.0001) than that for visual evaluation (5.14 ± 0.11 min). However, the inter-operator agreement ranged between “moderate” to “almost perfect” for densitometry (kappa range 0.58–0.87) and “slight” for visual (kappa = 0.20) assessment. The correlation coefficients of DLCO with relative area at −960 and −970 Hounsfield units (HU) (both r = −0.66) and of the first percentile point of lung density (r = 0.66) were slightly stronger than that of the visual score (r = −0.62). Densitometry should be preferred to visual assessment because it enables a more reproducible evaluation of the extent of pulmonary emphysema, which can be carried out on the entire lung in a reasonable amount of time.
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Metadata
Title
Whole-lung densitometry versus visual assessment of emphysema
Authors
Edoardo Cavigli
Gianna Camiciottoli
Stefano Diciotti
Ilaria Orlandi
Cheti Spinelli
Eleonora Meoni
Luca Grassi
Carmela Farfalla
Massimo Pistolesi
Fabio Falaschi
Mario Mascalchi
Publication date
01-07-2009
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
European Radiology / Issue 7/2009
Print ISSN: 0938-7994
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1084
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-009-1320-y

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