Low- and High-Attenuation Lung Volume in Quantitative Chest CT in Children without Lung Disease
Dimitrios Moutafidis,
Maria Gavra,
Sotirios Golfinopoulos,
Antonios Kattamis,
George Chrousos,
Christina Kanaka-Gantenbein,
Athanasios G. Kaditis
Affiliations
Dimitrios Moutafidis
Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine & Agia Sofia Children’s Hospital, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine & Agia Sofia Children’s Hospital, 115 27 Athens, Greece
George Chrousos
University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine, UNESCO, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Christina Kanaka-Gantenbein
Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine & Agia Sofia Children’s Hospital, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Athanasios G. Kaditis
Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine & Agia Sofia Children’s Hospital, 115 27 Athens, Greece
In contrast to studies of adults with emphysema, application of fixed thresholds to determine low- and high-attenuation areas (air-trapping and parenchymal lung disease) in pediatric quantitative chest CT is problematic. We aimed to assess age effects on: (i) mean lung attenuation (full inspiration); and (ii) low and high attenuation thresholds (LAT and HAT) defined as mean attenuation and 1 SD below and above mean, respectively. Chest CTs from children aged 6–17 years without abnormalities were retrieved, and histograms of attenuation coefficients were analyzed. Eighty examinations were included. Inverse functions described relationships between age and mean lung attenuation, LAT or HAT (p CT with low attenuation correlated with age (rs = −0.31; p = 0.005) and was CT with high attenuation and age (r2 = 0.49; p CT with low attenuation and TLCCT (r2 = 0.47; p CT with high attenuation and TLCCT (r2 = 0.76; p < 0.0001). In conclusion, quantitative analysis of chest CTs from children without lung disease can be used to define age-specific LAT and HAT for evaluation of pediatric lung disease severity.
