Plain chest radiographs and pulmonary function tests have been used for pulmonary screening for flight duties of aircrews of the Republic of Korea Air Force. However, the screening accuracy of plain chest radiographs is controversial. Chest CT imaging with low-dose protocol (LDCT) improves detection of intra-thoracic abnormalities compared to plain chest radiographs. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of LDCT on flight duties of aircrews and to investigate their radiologic findings.From June 2009 to May 2011, the Aerospace Medical Center screened asymptomatic subjects 40 yr of age or older to evaluate intra-thoracic abnormalities using LDCT. The abnormal findings, including types and frequency, were recorded and the aircrew's flight duties were also recorded.This study included 536 subjects. No abnormal findings were found in 387 (72.2%) subjects. Abnormal findings related to pulmonary nodules were detected in 123 (23.00%) subjects. Air-trapping lesions were found in 33 (6.1%) subjects. One subject had a mediastinal tumor. Changes of flight duty were made in 26 (4.9%) subjects on the basis of LDCT findings. No subject was permanently disqualified for flight duty.Pulmonary screening with LDCT could detect many intra-thoracic abnormalities. LDCT was especially useful in the detection of bullae and bleb, and the flight duties of all subjects with bullae and bleb were changed.
The purposes of this study were to assess radiation exposure during low-dose chest CT by using lateral topography and to compare the lateral topographic findings with findings obtained with anteroposterior topography alone and anteroposterior and lateral topography combined.From November 2011 to February 2012, 210 male subjects were enrolled in the study. Age, weight, and height of the men were recorded. All subjects were placed into one of three subgroups based on the type of topographic image obtained: anteroposterior topography, lateral topography, and both anteroposterior and lateral topography. Imaging was performed with a 128-MDCT scanner. CT, except for topography, was the same for all subjects. A radiologist analyzed each image, recorded scan length, checked for any insufficiencies in the FOV, and calculated the effective radiation dose. One-way analysis of variance and multiple comparisons were used to compare the effective radiation exposure and scan length between groups.The mean scan length in the anteroposterior topography group was significantly greater than that of the lateral topography group and the combined anteroposterior and lateral topography group (p < 0.001). The mean effective radiation dose for the lateral topography group (0.735 ± 0.033 mSv) was significantly lower than that for the anteroposterior topography group (0.763 ± 0.038 mSv) and the combined anteroposterior and lateral topography group (0.773 ± 0.038) (p < 0.001).Lateral topographic low-dose CT was associated with a lower effective radiation dose and scan length than either anteroposterior topographic low-dose chest CT or low-dose chest CT with both anteroposterior and lateral topograms.
'%3e%3cg id='b'%3e%3cpath id='a' stroke='%23000' stroke-width='2' d='M-6-25H6m-12 3H6m-12 3H6'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23a' y='44'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' d='M0 17v10'/%3e%3ccircle r='12' fill='%23cd2e3a'/%3e%3cpath fill='%230047a0' d='M0-12A6 6 0 0 0 0 0a6 6 0 0 1 0 12 12 12 0 0 1 0-24z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3cg transform='rotate(-123.69)'%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23b'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' d='M0-23.5v3M0 17v3.5m0 3v3'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)