[Computed tomography and study of external respiratory function in the diagnosis of complications due to chronic obstructive lung disease].

Forty patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) were examined. Determinations were made of pulmonary pressure (PP), by using Doppler echocardiography, lung tissue density (LTD) and the diameter of the pulmonary trunk (PT) from the data of computed tomography, as well as external respiratory function (ERF). An inverse correlation was found between LTD and the diameter of PT. Panlobular pulmonary emphysema occurring in 82.5% of the examined was characterized by decreased LTD less than (-) 930 Hounsefield units (HU) and a more than 40% increase in the RV/TLC ratio. In any severity of COLD, the values of PP were statistically significantly greater than those in the control group. In severe COLD, the diameter of PT exceeded that in healthy individuals. There was a statistically significant relationship of the values of ERF to LTD in 65% of the patients (with LTD of (-) 900 to (-) 1000 HU).