Keywords:
Education and training, Statistics, Screening, CT-High Resolution, Thorax, Lung
Authors:
A. Dorca Duch1, P. Rivera Ortega1, P. Luburich Hernaiz1, A. Conejero2, M. Molina Molina1, V. Vicens Zygmunt1, L. Planas Cerezales1, J. M. Bantulà Pi1, H. H. J. Jofre1; 1Barcelona/ES, 2Tarragona/ES
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-2391
Methods and materials
Retrospective study of all consecutive cases referred through a rapid circuit from Primary Care (PC) centers to the ILD Unit from 2012 to 2015.
The PC physicians and PC radiologists were trained in ILD identification during the year before the recruitment started.
Patients attending to PC centers were included in our study following two possible paths:
- the PC physician requested a chest x-ray,
and in case of ILD suspicion,
the PC radiologist requested a chest high resolution computed tomography (HRCT).
- the PC physician directly requested a chest HRCT in case of clinical suspicion of ILD.
A specialized pulmonologist team collected the following information:
- socio-demographic data (age and gender)
- clinical data (symptomatology)
- smoking history (pack/years)
- life-limiting comorbidities
- pulmonary functional tests (PFT): spirometry,
6-minute walking test (6MWT)
- biopsy results
- time from the visit request to the first visit
- time from the visit to the diagnosis
- definitive diagnosis
- treatment (pharmacological or not)
- survival status
All chest images (x-ray,
HRCT) were evaluated for the same PC radiologist team.
The following radiological information was gathered:
- HRCT pattern (UIP,
possible UIP or inconsistent with UIP pattern)
- Presence of emphysema