CHRONIC EOSINOPHILIC PNEUMONIA - EVOLUTION OF CHEST RADIOGRAMS AND CTFEATURES

Objective: Our object is to describe and compare the findings on plain chest radiographs and CT scans in patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia of varying duration, as judged by their clinical history. Ma terials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the initial chest rad iographs and initial CT scans that were obtained before treatment with corticosteroid in 17 patients with pathologically proven or clinicall y diagnosed chronic eosinophilic pneumonia. Results: Eleven of the 17 patients showed predominantly peripheral patchy or confluent consolida tion with or without ground-glass opacities on chest radiography. Sixt een patients, on the other hand, showed various types of abnormalities with peripheral predominance on CT. The seven patients in whom the in itial CT was performed within 1 month after the onset of symptoms had dense confluent consolidation (7/7) with or without ground-glass opaci ties. When the initial CT was performed 1-2 months after onset of symp toms, inhomogeneous patchy consolidation or nodules (5/7) or ground-gl ass opacities (2/7) were observed. When the initial CT was performed > 2 months after the onset of symptoms, streaky or band-like opacities ( 1/3) or lobar atelectasis (1/3) was seen. Conclusion: Patients with ch ronic eosinophilic pneumonia show an evolution of CT features at varyi ng time intervals after the onset of disease.