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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To find out the role of multidetector computed tomography in the evaluation of neck lesions with respect to evaluation of the size, location and extent of tumour. Extension of tumour infiltrating into surrounding vascular and visceral structures. To correlate the findings of MD-CT with final diagnosis by biopsy. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data for the study was collected from patients with suspected neck lesions attending Department of Radio-diagnosis, J.L.N. Medical College and Associated Group of Hospitals, Ajmer, Rajasthan. A prospective study was conducted over a period (From 1st March 2014 to 31 Aug. 2015) on patients with clinically suspected neck lesions or patients who were diagnosed to have neck lesion on ultrasound and were referred to CT for further characterisation. The patients presented with symptoms of palpable neck mass and neck pain. Patients were evaluated using multidetector CT. A provisional diagnosis was made after CT scan and these findings were correlated with histopathology/surgical findings as applicable. RESULT In the present study, 97 out of 100 cases were correctly characterised by computed tomography giving an accuracy of 97%. One case of buccal carcinoma was wrongly diagnosed as benign lesion and another case of malignant lymph node was inaccurately diagnosed as benign lymph node, also another case of benign lymph node was inaccurately diagnosed as malignant lymph node. CONCLUSION Multidetector Computed Tomography of the neck has improved the localisation and characterisation of neck lesions. Accurate delineation of disease by CT scan provides a reliable preoperative diagnosis, plan for radiotherapy ports and posttreatment followup. However, histopathology still remains the gold standard as CT is not 100% accurate.

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate diffusion capacity of lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) in patients with simple and complicated silicosis and to correlate abnormal findings detected, if any, with the computed tomography abnormalities in these patients Methods: This study included 56 patients with simple and complicated silicosis and without tuberculosis, in whom we performed DLCO as per standard technique. Various computed tomography findings, that is, presence, size and distribution of nodules associated with relative parenchymal and vascular markings, were recorded in the study subjects and classified into standard grading to be finally compared with DLCO. Visual grading score system was used to describe the extent of emphysematous changes based on the area of abnormally low attenuation, vascular disruption, bullae and so on and data were recorded Results: Results showed that 85.7% patients had small opacities of varying grades and 28.5% showed large opacities, with 16% of them having type ‘C’ large opacities. The mean DLCO (% predicted) of patients with category ‘0’ high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) abnormality was 92.3 ± 6.8 (within normal limits), and this gradually decreased with increasing HRCT category to 44.2 ± 11.2 in grade ‘4’ of progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) patients in this study (P < 0.01). This reflects a significant inverse correlation between visual HRCT category and the DLCO % predicted (r > −0.89, P < 0.001). The mean DLCO (% predicted) was 51 ± 12.6 in patients with grade ‘1’ emphysema in HRCT, 53 ± 13.5 in grade ‘2’, 43 ± 6.4 in grade ‘3’ and 37.7 ± 6.3 in grade ‘4’; however, there was no correlation between emphysema grading and pulmonary functional index (r = −0.33, P = 0.15) Conclusion: This study observed significant abnormality in DLCO among silicosis patients and its strong correlation with the extent of radiological abnormality. HRCT finding of large opacities could be an important indicator of the severity of silicosis, as reflected by significantly reduced DLCO in such patients.

Purpose: To assess the HRCT findings of symptomatic COVID-19 patients with positive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Methods:This was a prospective observational study comprising 100 consecutive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive patients who underwent CT chest. Distribution, extent and type of abnormal lung findings were observed. Results:Among the total study cohort of 100 patients,64 (64 %) were males and 36 (36 %) were females with mean age of 42.1± 15.6 years. We observed lung parenchymalabnormalities in 55(55 %) cases whereas 45 (45 %) RT-PCR positive cases had a normal chest CT.Only 11 % of the patients were dyspneic, 6 % had desaturation, 9 % had increased respiratory rate and 15 % had comorbidities.Among the patients with abnormal CT findings bilateral 44/55 (80 %), multilobar 49/55 (89 %) lung involvement with a predominant peripheral and posterior distribution was commonly observed.With regards to the type ofopacity,ground glass opacity (GGO) was the dominant abnormality found in all 55 (100 %) cases.Pure GGO was observed in 16 (29.1%), GGO with septal thickening was seen in 28 (50.9 %) and GGO mixed with consolidation was noted in 11(20 %).Conclusion:In this study population predominantly with mild symptoms and few comorbidities,45% ofRT-PCR positive patients had a normal chest CT; whereas the remaining 55% patients showed typical findings ofpredominant GGOs with a bilateral distribution and peripheral predominance

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To investigate the relation between pulmonary artery obstruction index (PAOI) and right ventricle to left ventricle diameter ratio in patients with acute pulmonary embolism. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study population comprised of patients with definite diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism based on their CTPA. PAOI was calculated from the size of embolus and the location of thrombus on CT images according to a study by Qanadli et al and compared with the right to left ventricular diameter ratio. Quantitative variables were expressed in terms of mean, standard deviation with confidence interval of 95%. PAOI was compared with RV/LV ratio using Spearman correlation test, p<0.005 was considered statically significant. RESULTS Total of 32 patients with pulmonary embolism, mean PAOI was 38.9 ± 17.7%. The mean RV/LV ratio was 1.14 ± 0.37; twenty two patients (69%) had an RV/LV ratio of more than 1; ten patients (31%) had an RV/LV ratio of less than 1. There was a statistically significant correlation between PAOI and RV/LV ratio (p < 0.0001; rho=0.75). The mean PAOI of patients with RV/LV ratio >1 was significantly higher than that of patients with RV/LV ratio <1 (46.2% vs. 18.0%; p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Quantification of a clot at CTPA is an important predictor of right heart failure and determines patient's outcome in the setting of pulmonary thromboembolism.