Computerized tomography pleurography: a new method for detecting minor pleural lesion

Objectives To evaluate the ability of CT pleurography (CTP) in detecting mi nor pleural lesions in patients with pleural effusion and to assess its val ue in distinguishing malignant from benign pleural lesions. Methods A prospective study of 50 patients with pleural effusion was conduc ted using conventional CT and CTP. CT scan was run after injecting an appro priate amount of contrast medium into the pleural cavity. Results In 24 patients, all lesions detected by conventional CT were demons trated by CTP. In 13 of 24 patients, CT pleurography detected additional le sions. In 20 of 26 patients with negative findings on conventional CT, CTP was capable of demonstrating the presence of pleural lesions. The sensitivi ty, specificity and accuracy of detecting pleural lesions were 25%, 100% an d 30% for conventional CT, 86%, 100% and 87% for CTP, respectively. Conclusion CTP is superior to conventional CT in detecting and for the diff erential diagnosis benign and malignant pleural lesions.