CT quantification of large opacities and emphysema in silicosis: correlations among clinical, functional, and radiological parameters.

Background: The assessment of the extent of silicosis on chest radiographs is subjective and could be more standardized by using computed tomography (CT) quantification methods. We propose a semiautomatic method of quantifying the anatomical lung damage (LD) (the sum of the emphysema and large opacities volumes) measured by CT densitovolumetry in complicated silicosis.

Methods: Twenty-three nonsmokers with complicated silicosis were included.