E lectronic cigarettes (hereafter, e-cigarettes), also known as vapes, are battery-powered devices that aerosolize substances including flavors, tetrahydrocannabinol, and/ or nicotine for inhalation. First introduced in the United States around 2007, e-cigarettes have become the most commonly used tobacco product among the U.S. youth since 2014, and e-cigarette use has continued to increase substantially among adolescents in the past few years (1).Beginning in 2012, several case reports emerged raising the possibility of the link between e-cigarette use and lung injury (2-8). As of January 14, 2020, there have been 2668 reported cases with 60 confirmed deaths due to e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) in the U.S. territory, with patients under 18 years of age accounting for 15% of reported hospitalizations due to EVALI (9). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and the Food and Drug Administration, along with local and state departments and clinicians, have been actively researching the causes and pathophysiology of EVALI (9).Imaging plays a crucial role in the initial detection and evaluation of progression of EVALI. In the adult population, case reports and series have described the clinical and imaging findings of EVALI (1,10-13). To our knowledge, there is currently no published information regarding the chest radiographic and CT findings in pediatric patients with EVALI. This population is particularly vulnerable to e-cigarette use and its potentially life-threatening consequences. The purpose of our study was to evaluate chest radiographic and CT findings of EVALI in the pediatric population.
Materials and MethodsInstitutional Review Board Approval This retrospective study of patients' chest radiographs, CT images, and medical records was approved by the investigators' institutional review board. Informed consent was waived due to the retrospective nature of this study.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.