Solitary pulmonary nodule: preliminary study of evaluation with incremental dynamic CT.
OBJECTIVE
To use incremental dynamic computed tomography (CT) to evaluate solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs).


METHODS
Thirty-two adult patients with SPNs less than 3 cm in diameter had 18 primary lung cancers, 10 tuberculomas, and four hamartomas. The CT numbers of the inner area of the nodule were calculated before and 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 5 minutes after administration of contrast material.


RESULTS
All lung cancers and one of four hamartomas showed significantly greater enhancement (P < .0001) than benign SPNs, which did not show enhancement (except for one hamartoma). All lung cancers and one of four hamartomas showed complete enhancement, one hamartoma showed peripheral enhancement, two hamartomas and eight of 10 tuberculomas showed capsular enhancement, and two tuberculomas showed no enhancement.


CONCLUSIONS
Maximum attenuation of 20-60 HU appears to be a good predictor of malignancy.
Yamashita
K
K
Department of Radiology, Shiga Health Insurance Hospital, Otsu, Japan.
Matsunobe
S
S
Tsuda
T
T
Nemoto
T
T
Matsumoto
K
K
Miki
H
H
Konishi
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006222:Hamartoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D003074:Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014375:Tuberculoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging