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Multicenter Study
. 2003 May;180(5):1251-4.
doi: 10.2214/ajr.180.5.1801251.

Reversed halo sign on high-resolution CT of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia: diagnostic implications

Sang Jin Kim  1 , Kyung Soo Lee, Young Hoon Ryu, Young Cheol Yoon, Kyu Ok Choe, Tae Sung Kim, Ki Jun Sung
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Reversed halo sign on high-resolution CT of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia: diagnostic implications

Sang Jin Kim et al. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2003 May.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the usefulness of the reversed halo sign on high-resolution CT in the diagnosis of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia.

Materials and methods: Between 1996 and 2001, we saw 31 patients with biopsy-proven cryptogenic organizing pneumonia. During the same period, we also saw 30 patients with non-cryptogenic organizing pneumonia diseases, from which cryptogenic organizing pneumonia should be differentiated: Wegener's granulomatosis (n = 14), diffuse bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (n = 10), chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (n = 5), and Churg-Strauss syndrome (n = 1). Two independent observers analyzed CT findings and recorded how frequently the so-called reversed halo sign (central ground-glass opacity and surrounding air-space consolidation of crescentic and ring shape) was seen on high-resolution CT.

Results: The most common patterns of parenchymal abnormalities of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia were ground-glass opacity (28/31 patients, 90%) and consolidation (27/31, 87%). The ground-glass opacity pattern showed random distribution, and the consolidation pattern showed subpleural or peribronchovascular (20/27 patients, 74%) distribution with predominance in the middle or lower lung zone. The reversed CT halo sign was seen in six (19%) of 31 patients with cryptogenic organizing pneumonia and in none of the patients with the diseases that needed to be differentiated from cryptogenic organizing pneumonia on CT.

Conclusion: The reversed halo sign, although seen only in one fifth of patients with the disease, appears relatively specific to make a diagnosis of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia on CT.

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