• Takeshi Higuchi, Naoya Takahashi, Motoi Shiotani, Suguru Sato, Atsushi Ohta, Haruo Maeda, Haruhiko Nakajima, Kazuhiko Itoh, and Hiroki Tsukada.
• Department of Radiology, Respiratory Medicine, Niigata City General Hospital, Niigata-city, Niigata-ken, Japan. higuchi@hosp.niigata.niigata.jp
• Acta Radiol. 2012 Feb 1; 53 (1): 44-8.

BackgroundTo date, bronchial diverticula have generally been treated as a pathological condition associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), although only a limited amount of published information is available on the relationship between bronchial diverticula as depicted by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and airflow limitations.PurposeTo evaluate the relationship between airflow limitations and main bronchial diverticula in the subcarinal region using spirometry and thin-section MDCT.Material And MethodsA total of 189 consecutive adult patients were retrospectively evaluated based on spirometry and thin-section MDCT of the chest. All examinations were performed at our institution between June and October 2008. The study group included 70 women and 119 men with a mean age of 65 years (range 19-86 years). The relationship between the FEV(1)% and bronchial diverticula in the subcarinal region was analyzed (Student's t-test).ResultsThe indications for conducting the examinations were pulmonary diseases (82 patients), cardiovascular diseases (22), extrapulmonary malignancies (74), and other conditions (11). A total of 84/189 (44.4%) patients showed bronchial diverticula, and the FEV(1)% of 70/84 (83.3%) patients was above 70. The FEV(1)% of patients with lesions ranged from 26.0 to 97.8 (mean 76.8), whereas the range was 28.1-94.4 (mean 73.7) in those without lesions. There was no significant association between the FEV(1)% and the presence of subcarinal bronchial diverticula (P > 0.05).ConclusionOur data demonstrate that thin-section chest CT commonly demonstrates main bronchial diverticula in the subcarinal region in patients without airflow limitations. We propose that the presence of a small number of tiny bronchial diverticula under the carina may not be a criterion for the diagnosis of COPD.

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