Respiratory bronchiolitis, respiratory bronchiolitis-associated interstitial lung disease, and desquamative interstitial pneumonia: different entities or part of the spectrum of the same disease process?
Our objective was to assess high-resolution CT findings of respiratory bronchiolitis, respiratory bronchiolitis-associated interstitial lung disease, and desquamative interstitial pneumonia and to determine whether these three entities could be reliably differentiated by radiologic criteria.CT scans (1- to 3-mm collimation) were reviewed in 40 patients with pathologically proven respiratory bronchiolitis (n = 16), respiratory bronchiolitis-associated interstitial lung disease (n = 8), or desquamative interstitial pneumonia (n = 16). All patients with respiratory bronchiolitis and respiratory bronchiolitis-associated interstitial lung disease were cigarette smokers, and 85% of the patients with desquamative interstitial pneumonia had a history of smoking. CT scans were independently reviewed by two radiologists who assessed the pattern and distribution of abnormalities.The predominant abnormalities in respiratory bronchiolitis were centrilobular nodules (12 [75%] of 16 patients) and ground-glass attenuatio...