 |
Vol.48 No.1 contents | Japanese/English |
 | Full Text of PDF (1705K) Article in Japanese |
- Review Article -
The Role of Plain Chest Radiograph in Lung Cancer Diagnosis
Michio Kono1,3, Shuji Adachi21Director Emeritus, Hyogo Cancer Center, Japan, 2Department of Radiology, Hyogo Cancer Center, Japan, 3Professor Emeritus, Kobe University, Japan
The plain chest radiograph still plays an important role as the first examination to determine thoracic diseases, especially lung cancer. Because plain chest radiography is simple and cheap, and it can demonstrate the entire thorax, much information concerning chest diseases, including lung cancer can be obtained. Furthermore, diagnostic capability of plain chest radiographs is raised by correlations with CT and MRI. However it has limitations in the detection of early lung cancer. Information such as mediastinal reflexion, which appear on plain chest radiographs are also important for depicting lung cancer, but they are not always signs of early lung cancer. Consequently, the important role of plain chest radiograph in the diagnosis of early lung cancer consisted not only depicting solid and irregular small nodules in the peripheral lung fields and secondary changes due to lung cancer such as lobar and segmental atelectasis or pneumonia, but also excluding benign nodules such as bone islands, nipples, granulomas with calcification and arterio-venous fistulas etc.
key words: Plain chest radiograph, Peripheral lung cancer, Hilar (Central) lung cancer, Mediastinal reflexion, Diagnosis for lung cancer
JJLC 48 (1): 11-19, 2008
