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What Does "Lungs Appear To Be Hyperinflated Suggesting Underlying COPD" Mean?

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Posted on Tue, 1 Apr 2014
Question: My sister was treated with chemo and radiation in 2011 for stage 3B lung cancer. On her last ct scan it showed that she was in remission. She had a pre-op the other day because she is going into surgery for her shoulder. They took a chest x-ray and these are the results. We really don't understand a word of it. Here are the findings as described by the radiologist. Findings: Lungs appear to be hyperinflated suggesting underlying COPD. Mild upward tenting left hemidiaphragm with some adjacent fibrosis. Also some chronic fibrotic changes medial aspect of the left upper lung and minimal changes in the right mid to upper lung as well. Cardiac silhouette within the upper limits of normal. Minor blunting of the right costophrenic angle probably due to scar. No pulmonary edema and no definite pleural effusion. No acute infiltrate. Can you explain what this all means? Thank you, XXXXXXX
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Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (47 minutes later)
Brief Answer: Detailed below. Detailed Answer: Hello! Thank you for the query. Here is a translation of chest X-ray: 1. Lungs appear to be hyperinflated suggesting COPD COPD means Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - this issue is caused by smoking which leads to chronic inflammation of the lungs. Such inflammation destroys regular lungs tissues, creates kind of large alveoli and narrows bronchioles. This makes lungs unable to fully breath out (hyperinflation) 2.Mild upward tenting left hemidiaphragm with some adjacent fibrosis - due to inflammatory changes, diaphragm becomes hard and can and gets modeled by scar tissue (fibrosis) 3.Also some chronic fibrotic changes medial aspect of the left upper lung and minimal changes in the right mid to upper lung as well Due to inflammatory process, scar tissue has appeared in the some parts of lungs. If there were some cancer lesions, it could vanish leaving scar tissue instead of lungs tissue. medial aspect of left upper lung and right mid to upper lung are this scars locations 4 Cardiac silhouette within the upper limits of normal - heart size is in normal. 5.Minor blunting of the right costophrenic angle probably due to scar - costophrenic angle is where the lower chest meets diaphragm. In healthy lungs, this angle is edged. If there are inflammatory changes, this XXXXXXX due to adhesions can get blunted. 6.No pulmonary edema and no definite pleural effusion. No acute infiltrate. It means that there is no other findings like hydrothorax, pneumothorax, inflammation etc. In simple words this X-ray tells that there might be COPD and some other minor inflammatory changes which do not need further action. I suggest your sister to consult pulmunologist and have COPD diagnosed and treated. Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions. Regards.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Grzegorz Stanko

General Surgeon

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 5795 Questions

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What Does "Lungs Appear To Be Hyperinflated Suggesting Underlying COPD" Mean?

Brief Answer: Detailed below. Detailed Answer: Hello! Thank you for the query. Here is a translation of chest X-ray: 1. Lungs appear to be hyperinflated suggesting COPD COPD means Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - this issue is caused by smoking which leads to chronic inflammation of the lungs. Such inflammation destroys regular lungs tissues, creates kind of large alveoli and narrows bronchioles. This makes lungs unable to fully breath out (hyperinflation) 2.Mild upward tenting left hemidiaphragm with some adjacent fibrosis - due to inflammatory changes, diaphragm becomes hard and can and gets modeled by scar tissue (fibrosis) 3.Also some chronic fibrotic changes medial aspect of the left upper lung and minimal changes in the right mid to upper lung as well Due to inflammatory process, scar tissue has appeared in the some parts of lungs. If there were some cancer lesions, it could vanish leaving scar tissue instead of lungs tissue. medial aspect of left upper lung and right mid to upper lung are this scars locations 4 Cardiac silhouette within the upper limits of normal - heart size is in normal. 5.Minor blunting of the right costophrenic angle probably due to scar - costophrenic angle is where the lower chest meets diaphragm. In healthy lungs, this angle is edged. If there are inflammatory changes, this XXXXXXX due to adhesions can get blunted. 6.No pulmonary edema and no definite pleural effusion. No acute infiltrate. It means that there is no other findings like hydrothorax, pneumothorax, inflammation etc. In simple words this X-ray tells that there might be COPD and some other minor inflammatory changes which do not need further action. I suggest your sister to consult pulmunologist and have COPD diagnosed and treated. Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions. Regards.