Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the improvement of pulmonary function in pneumoconiosis patients after whole-lung lavage(WLL)using spiral CT examination.
Methods Pulmonary function test and spiral CT examination of 50 pneumoconiosis patients were performed before and 3 days after WLL treatment.
Results The pulmonary function test showed that only the patients at midterm and later stage had improvement of FEV1.0, RV, TLC and RV/TLC after the WLL (P < 0.05), but the spiral CT examination showed that all patients had improvement of pulmonary function after WLL(P < 0.05).
Conclusion Spiral CT examination is more sensitive than lung function examination to show the improvement of pulmonary function in patients with pneumoconiosis after WLL and could be used as an complementarity in evaluation of pulmonary function.