Contribution of chest x-ray to the diagnosis of HIV virus infection

After revising literature concerning Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumoniae (PCP), the authors undertook a close examination of the immunological system of the HIVab-positive patients that suffered opportunistic pneumopathy from PCP. Hundred-forty-three cases of HIVab-positive (mean age of 29), prevalently heroine drugusers, were studied. There were 13 AIDS, 26 ARC, 91 LAS cases and 13 patients with only Ab positivity for HIV. Four hundred chest radiographs were examined without previous knowledge of case histories. A small number of hilum and/or mediastinal lymphoadenopathies was observed. Moreover, percentage increase in acute lung inflammatory diseases, mainly interstitial, was seen. These data were correlated to the worsening of the HIV infection and to the developing of LAS, ARC and ADIS. In a number of cases there was radiological evidence of pregressed inflammatory episodes. The clinical pattern of PCP patients is dramatic and often fatal. Clinical-radiological cases with special reference to acute interstitial disease, caused by opportunistic agents, are presented