Pulmonary emphysema and smoking

We assessed the relation between PE and smoking in 1,563 cases (1,068 men and 495 women) who underwent CT scaring for suspicion of respiratory disease on chest radiograph or some respiratory complaints. PE was diagnosed by the existence of low attenuation areas in CT scan and not by pulmonary function tests. CT was performed with 10 mm collimation in a standard algorithm. There were 2 subtypes of pulmonary emphysema: centrilobular and paraseptal emphysema. PE, regardless of the grade, was seen: in 189 out of 348 (54.3%) cases in males smokers and in only 2 out of 63 (3.2%) cases in male non-smokers; and in 5 out of 25 (20.0%) in female smokers and in 4 out of 203 (2.0%) in female non-smokers. PE was observed in more than half of male smokers. High incidence of PE was also observed in even younger generation, and severity would progress with advancing age and smoking. Both types of emphysema progress with age and amount of cigarette smoking. (author)