J Radiol
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There are good reasons to believe that screening of lung parenchymal diseases by CT is superior to chest radiographs. Nevertheless, conventional chest radiography often remains the first examination performed for evaluation of thoracic diseases and, irrespective of clinical indication, it plays an important role in screening procedures. ⋯ Specific attention to poor detectability zones is emphasized and a check-list is proposed, mainly to reduce the risk of overlooking lesions. Techniques, indications and respective diagnostic values for both chest radiography and CT scan are analyzed and applied to the screening of lung cancer, asbestos exposure and tuberculosis.
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False-positive or over-calling of findings at chest radiography may have important consequences by generating numerous and unnecessary examinations. The advances made in thoracic imaging have currently decreased the number of technical errors. However, we are frequently confronted with visual illusions or with failure to recognize anatomical variants, either congenital, age-related or physiological in nature. ⋯ Over-calling depends on the clinical context, which may inadequately suggest an interstitial lung process, abnormalities of the vascularization or of the hila. In this article, several examples of false positives will be illustrated. An explanation for these appearances, based on the underlying etiology, will be provided.