Relative enlargement of the pulmonary artery (PA) on chest CT imaging is associated with respiratory exacerbations in patients with COPD or cystic fibrosis. We sought to determine whether similar findings were present in patients with asthma and whether these findings were explained by differences in ventricular size.

Clinical trials have demonstrated a mortality benefit from lung cancer screening by low-dose CT (LDCT) in current or past tobacco smokers who meet criteria. Potential harms of screening mostly relate to downstream evaluation of abnormal screens. Few data exist on the rates outside of clinical trials of imaging and diagnostic procedures following screening LDCT. We describe rates in the community setting of follow-up imaging and diagnostic procedures after screening LDCT.

A 50-year-old woman with morbid obesity (BMI, 49 kg/m2) was admitted to the ED due to shortness of breath triggered by mild to moderate efforts over the previous 3 weeks that rapidly progressed to dyspnea at rest and became associated with oppressive chest pain and edema of the lower extremities. Four months prior to admission, she had been diagnosed with a uterine mass (18 × 21 cm2) suggestive of a leiomyoma, manifesting with abnormal vaginal bleeding and microcytic hypochromic anemia (Fig 1).

An 81-year-old man was admitted for evaluation of progressive dyspnea over the previous 4 weeks. He initially noticed dyspnea when walking briskly, but this progressed to dyspnea after only walking several feet. He also endorsed a dry cough without hemoptysis. Review of systems revealed a history of intermittent low-grade fevers, malaise, and nonexertional chest pain. He had been treated for a urinary tract infection twice over the past 3 weeks with prolonged courses of levofloxacin; while his urinary symptoms improved, his respiratory symptoms did not. Medical history was pertinent for lung adenocarcinoma stage IIIb status post right upper lobectomy 10 years prior with recurrence of lung adenocarcinoma in the right lower lobe and was recently diagnosed with stage 1 primary pancreatic adenocarcinoma. He had been a longstanding tobacco smoker but quit two decades ago. Treatment of his recurrent lung adenocarcinoma included four cycles of carboplatin-pemetrexed over the preceding 5 months and intensity-modulated radiation therapy totaling 60 Gy over 30 fractions to his right lower lobe 2 months prior to presentation. He also received stereotactic body radiation therapy totaling 45 Gy over five fractions to his pancreas.

A 12-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital for exercise intolerance and radiographic abnormalities. She presented with a 5-year history of shortness of breath during intense exercise and did not undergo any medical evaluation. She felt that her symptoms had progressed with fever and right chest pain 2 months prior to admission. She was diagnosed with pneumonia by her chest CT scan, which revealed a small right hemithorax, interlobular septal thickening, and ground-glass opacity of the right lung (Fig 1A), and was treated with antibiotics. She soon became afebrile, but still felt shortness of breath during intense exercise. Then, a contrast-enhanced CT scan of the chest (not shown) showed the right lung still had interlobular septal thickening, and the right pulmonary artery was smaller than the left. There were no systemic symptoms, including skin rash and arthralgia. Family history showed her grandparents were cousins and her father had congenital dysarthria.