Radiation diagnostics of the state of ventilation and pulmonary circulation in patients with COPD

Abstract

COPD is one of the most common human diseases. WHO experts predict an increase in economic damage from COPD by 2020 and claim that they will rank first among respiratory diseases and third among all causes of death. In Ukraine, about 3 million people, or at least 7% of the population, suffer from COPD. The purpose of the study is to analyze the available literature sources to establish the current state of the problem of radiological diagnosis of COPD, to identify problematic issues. Based on the analysis of literature data, it can be concluded that for a comprehensive examination of patients with COPD or suspected COPD, and assessment of external respiration - clinical examination and spirometry, especially in the early stages of the disease - is not enough. It is believed that in the initial stages of COPD, when spirometry and clinical data do not reveal abnormalities, radiological diagnosis is more sensitive than functional tests. Among the modern methods of radiological diagnosis of lung diseases - the method of CT today is the most sensitive and specific method of detecting pathological changes in the lung parenchyma and respiratory tract, it is available and widely used in everyday practice. Also a promising area is the use of functional CT (inspiratory-expiratory CT) - which should improve the assessment of respiratory function, including early detection of patients with COPD, which will promote the in time start of specific treatment, reduce episodes of exacerbations during the disease, assess the dynamics of the pathological process and the effectiveness of treatment, as well as improving the prognosis of work and life expectancy of patients. However, given the lack of unifying works on the study of this method, further studies of the capabilities of computed tomography in the diagnosis of signs of dysfunction of external respiration in patients with COPD are required. First of all, further research is required on the distribution of air trap zones, especially in patients with emphysema, it is desirable that these future studies are not based only on the principle of visual assessment in the form of exclusion / confirmation of air trap zones.