COMMON

RADIOLOGICAL
SIGNS
BACTERIAL LUNG
INFECTIONS

RADIOLOGICAL SIGNS AND

PATTERNS SEEN IN BACTERIAL LUNG
INFECTIONS:
1.CONSOLDATION – HOMOGENOUS
OPACITY WITH SHARP MARGINS AND
AIRBRONCHOGRAM LOCATED
PERIPHERALLY OR INVOLVING WHOLE
LOBES AND SILHOUETTING WITH THE
HEART BORDER OR DIAPHRAGM-
INDICATIVE OF AIRSPACE DISEASE

2.HOMOGENOUS OPACITY OBLITERATING

THE CP ANGLE AND EXTENDING TO
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF LUNG FIELDS
WITHOUT AIRBRONCHOGRAM AND A
CONCAVE MENISCUS - INDICATIVE OF
PLEURAL EFFUSION , EMPYEMA
3.CAVITATION – CIRCULAR AREA OF
LUCENCY WITH THICK OR THIN MARGINS
WITH OR WITHOUT AIRFLUID
LEVELS.CAVITY > 1 MM .
4.NODULES – MULTIPLE ROUND OPACITIES
OF DIFFERENT SIZES .MARGINS MAY BE
SHARP OR BLURRED.
5.SCARRING AND FIBROSIS – CAUSES
NODULES AND LINEAR OPACITIES
6. TREE IN BUD OPACITIES – OPACITIES OF
INFLAMMATORY EXUDATES FILLING
BOTH THE TERMINAL BRONCHIOLES,
RESPIRATORY BRONCHIOLE AND
AIRSPACES. CT SHOWS MULTIPLE
NODULES WITH BRANCHING PATTERN -
BRONCHIECTASIS
7.GROUND GLASS OPACITIES – THESE
OPACITIES HAVE THE APPEARANCE OF
GROUND GLASS.
8.HETEROGENOUS OPACITIES: OPACITY
WITH DIFFERENT DEGREE OF
OPACIFICATION
9.MEDIASTINAL SHIFT – SHIFT OF
MEDIASTINAL STRUCTURES SUCH AS
TRACHEA, AORTIC SHADOW AND HEART
SHADOW
10.BULGING FISSURE SIGN – BULGING OF
FISSURE INTO ADJACENT LOBE SEEN IN
KLEBSIELLA PNEUMONIA
11.PNEUMATOCOELES:THIN WALLED,WELL
CIRCUMSCRIBED CIRCULAR OR OVAL
LUCENCY SEEN IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS
PNEUMONIA IN CHILDREN . WALL
THICKNESS < 1 MM
12.AIRBRONCHOGRAM presence of
SIGN -
air filled (patent) bronchi
surrounded by air spaces filled
with pus or fluid; simply indicates
air space disease; e.g. Pneumonia
13.AIR CRESCENT SIGN – PRESENCE OF
LUCENCY INDICATING AIR SURROUNDING
THE CONTRAST BOTH INSIDE AND
OUTSIDE IN A CAVITY

14.Signet/pearl ring sign:

Refers to the combination of a
small soft tissue attenuating circle
(pulmonary artery- pearl on a ring)
abutting a larger soft tissue
attenuating ring (wall of a
bronchus- ring); ring surrounds a
low-attenuating circle (air within
bronchus);
indicates bronchiectasis.

15.Silhouette sign: Refers to the

inability to see the border of a
normal structure such as heart or
aorta masked by an opacity of
similar density anatomically
contiguous with this border; e.g.
right middle lobe consolidation
masking right heart border.
-

FEEDING VESSEL SIGN

Classically, “a feeding vessel sign,”
in which a distinct vessel is seen
leading to the center of a
pulmonary nodule, has been
reported as a typical finding of
septic emboli. however, the feeding
vessel sign also can occur in
pulmonary metastasis.