• R Gong and L Wu.
• Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, Jinan 250021, China.
• Chinese Med J Peking. 2001 Sep 1; 114 (9): 937-40.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the ability of CT pleurography (CTP) in detecting minor pleural lesions in patients with pleural effusion and to assess its value in distinguishing malignant from benign pleural lesions.MethodsA prospective study of 50 patients with pleural effusion was conducted using conventional CT and CTP. CT scan was run after injecting an appropriate amount of contrast medium into the pleural cavity.ResultsIn 24 patients, all lesions detected by conventional CT were demonstrated by CTP. In 13 of 24 patients, CT pleurography detected additional lesions. In 20 of 26 patients with negative findings on conventional CT, CTP was capable of demonstrating the presence of pleural lesions. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of detecting pleural lesions were 25%, 100% and 30% for conventional CT, 86%, 100% and 87% for CTP, respectively.ConclusionCTP is superior to conventional CT in detecting and for the differential diagnosis benign and malignant pleural lesions.

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