title: Pulmonary computed tomography findings in 39 cases of Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The main objective of our study was to describe the pulmonary distribution of consolidation and ground-glass opacity (GGO) in chest computed tomography (CT) scans of Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia. In addition, the percentage of other pulmonary abnormalities was also reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively evaluated chest CT examinations performed between November 2008 and January 2010 in 39 patients with S. pneumoniae pneumonia. Eight patients with Haemophilus influenzae pneumonia were also included for comparison.
  
  
  METHODS
  There were 19 women and 28 men with clinical symptoms of fever and productive cough and laboratory findings of leukocytosis with markedly high C-reactive protein levels. Chest X-ray scores before and after treatment were calculated. The average score before treatment was 4. The average score after treatment was 0. Parenchymal abnormalities were evaluated along with the presence of enlarged lymph nodes and pleural effusions. The distribution of parenchymal disease was also analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The chest CT findings in the patients with S. pneumoniae pneumonia consisted primarily of consolidation (56.4%), ground-glass opacity (71.7%), interlobular reticular opacity (69.2%), centrilobular nodules (53.8%), interlobular septal thickening (46.6%), bronchial wall thickening (46.6%), lymph node enlargement (10.2%) and pleural effusion (10.2%). Segmental distribution (65.7%) was seen more frequently than non-segmental distribution (35.9%). Abnormal findings were noticed bilaterally in 14 patients and unilaterally in 25 patients. On both the right and left sides, predominant zonal distributions were seen in the lower lobes. In contrast, among the eight patients with H. influenzae pneumonia, one patient had both segmental and non-segmental distributions and the remaining seven patients had only segmental distributions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, segmental distributions of parenchymal abnormalities are more common than non-segmental distributions on chest CT scans of patients with S. pneumoniae pneumonia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Japan. attiya.haroon@gmail.com
authors.forename: Attiya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haroon
authors.forename: Futoshi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Higa
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Nobuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Yoshihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niki
authors.forename: Jun-ichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kadota
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanagihara
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaku
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Haley L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Cash
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006192:Haemophilus Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006193:Haemophilus influenzae; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult