Computed tomographic diagnosis of diffuse lung disease.

The superiority of CT over chest radiography in the evaluation of diffuse lung disease is now acknowledged, and the role of high-resolution CT is becoming increasingly clearly defined. In many cases of suspected diffuse lung disease, open lung biopsy may be obviated as a result of the findings of high-resolution CT. Now that the high-resolution CT appearances of most diffuse lung diseases have been described, studies are being directed at characterizing the natural history of these conditions using serial high-resolution CT examinations. This work is of particular relevance to industrial and fibrosing lung disease. Faster image acquisition by the latest CT scanners has allowed dynamic studies that have provided unique functional information in a number of diffuse lung diseases.