Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Nawaz Anjum, Nauman Bashir Barlas.
CT appearance of extra pleural reaction in Empyema.
Pak Postgrad Med J Jan ;11(4):125-6.

This study was conducted to evaluate abnormal attenuation in extra pleural tissue in patients with pleural empyema and transudative effusion. We examined the chest wall on computed tomographic scans in 30 patients with pleural effusion; the scans were obtained with Toshiba Express CT Scanner. Twenty patients had pleural empyema and ten patients had transudative effusion. Of the twenty empyema patients 14 had abnormally high attenuation in extra pleural tissue. In 6 patients there was either no abnormality or an insufficient amount of fat to allow the detection of an abnormality or the parietal pleura could not be differentiated from the pleural fluid. Of the 10 patients with transudative effusion, all had normal extra pleural fat. The conclusion was that abnormal high attenuation in extra pleural tissue can occur in empyema.

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