ACCURACY OF 320 SLICE CT (COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY) IN DIAGNOSING MALIGNANCY IN PULMONARY LESIONS

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of 320 slice CT in identifying malignant solitary pulmonary lesions taking histopathology as a gold standard.

Methods: A prospective cross-sectional validation study was conducted from 01-12-2013 to 31-12-2015.at the Radiology department, Shifa International Hospital (Islamabad), Pakistan. One hundred and thirty four patients with pulmonary lesions seen in prior chest x-rays or chest CT scans were referred to radiology department for CT guided biopsy.

CT scan was performed for each patient prior to biopsy and CT evaluation of the pulmonary lesions was performed followed by CT guided Biopsy. Histopathological diagnosis of the lesion was taken as the gold standard.

Results:  CT was found to be 96 %sensitive, 82% specific and 94.6% accurate for diagnosing malignancy in solitary pulmonary lesions while PPV and NPV were 94% and 87% respectively using SPSS version 20.  

Conclusion:  In our study CT, scan shows good performance in classifying pulmonary lesions as benign or malignant, however there is overlap among CT features of benign and malignant lesions. Therefore lung biopsy is required for definitive diagnosis.

Keywords: 320 slice CT, Computed Tomography, pulmonary lesion