High Resolution Computed Tomography Lung Spectrum in Symptomatic Adult HIV-Positive Patients in South-East Asian Nation

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary infections remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality and one of the most frequent causes of hospital admission in HIV infected people worldwide. HRCT may be useful in the evaluation of patients with suspected pulmonary disease. The aim of given study was to determine the High Resolution Computed Tomography spectrum of lung parenchymal and interstitial imaging findings in HIV infected patients presented with chest symptoms. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in a tertiary health care centre, New Delhi, India. The study consisted of 45 patients. A thorough clinical history of all the HIV positive patients presenting with suspicion of pulmonary disease was taken. General physical and respiratory system examination of all patients was done HRCT scans of the chest were done in all the cases taken in the study. Results: Maximum number of patients was in age group 31-40 years (24 cases). Out of 45 patients included in our study, 32 (71%) were male and 13 (29%) were female. In our series of 45 patients, 62.2% of patients were diagnosed as having pulmonary tuberculosis, followed by bacterial infection in 20% cases and Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) in 8.9% patients, while 8.9% of the study did not reveal any significant abnormality. Maximum number (22/28) of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were indentified to have nodular opacities. The most common HRCT finding in bacterial infection was lobar consolidation. The most common HRCT finding in patients with PCP was diffuse ground glass opacities in mosaic pattern of distribution. Conclusion: HRCT is a highly sensitive tool for detecting lung parenchymal and interstitial lesions and allows better characterization of the lesions. HRCT findings should always be correlated with clinical findings, CD4 counts and other available investigations before arriving at a diagnosis or differential diagnosis.

Keywords

• bacterial infection
• high resolution computed tomography
• human immunodeficiency virus
• pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia
• pulmonary tuberculosis
• radiologic patterns