Five patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis in whom CT revealed high-attenuation mucus
Shigeki Hashimoto Tomoki Kuge Yuhei Shimizu Eriko Tabata Shigeru Akutagawa
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Ikeda Municipal Hospital
Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is a hypersensitivity reaction to aspergillus colonization. ABPA has been diagnosed according to Rosenberg's criteria. High-attenuation mucus (HAM) is known as a CT finding of ABPA, but we do not consider that general clinicians focus on HAM when making a diagnosis of ABPA. We retrospectively examined CT findings in 5 patients diagnosed with ABPA in our hospital. As a result, HAM was confirmed in all patients, but it was not recognized at the time of diagnosis in 2 patients. HAM is not included in conventional diagnostic criteria, and it is not generally known. However, this finding is characteristic of ABPA. In Japan, where CT is frequently used in clinical practice, HAM may be useful for the diagnosis of ABPA. Therefore HAM must be more commonly recognized by general clinicians.
Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis High-attenuation mucus (HAM)
Received 2 Sep 2016 / Accepted 10 Feb 2017
AJRS, 6(3): 220-223, 2017