CT Chest
STANDARD CT CHEST
- contrast used to highlight mediastinal structures
- entire thorax imaged with no skip areas
- slices are 5-10mm thick
CTPA
- hypoxic vasoconstriction -> decreased lung perfusion to areas with low blood flow
- PE – filling defects
HIGH RESOLUTION CT
- very thin axial sections (1mm)
- sections spaced 10-20mm part (thus only 10% of lung sampled)
- sections are processed to enhance the detection of edges
- no contrast is administered
- use when interstitial lung disease is suspected
- weaknesses: hilar and mediastinal structures are poorly visualised, small nodules are often missed.
DDX
Bilateral peripheral consolidation
- cryptogenic organizing pneumonia
- chronic eosinophilic pneumonia
- atypical pulmonary oedema
- Churg-Strauss syndrome
- drug reactions
- pulmonary contusion
- pulmonary infarction
- sarcoidosis
Intralobular and interlobular interstitial septal thickening
- dust related diseases
- sarcoidosis
- pulmonary haemorrhage
- alveolar proteinosis
- chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis
Critical Care
Compendium
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at the Alfred ICU in Melbourne. He is also a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. He is a co-founder of the Australia and New Zealand Clinician Educator Network (ANZCEN) and is the Lead for the ANZCEN Clinician Educator Incubator programme. He is on the Board of Directors for the Intensive Care Foundation and is a First Part Examiner for the College of Intensive Care Medicine. He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives.
After finishing his medical degree at the University of Auckland, he continued post-graduate training in New Zealand as well as Australia’s Northern Territory, Perth and Melbourne. He has completed fellowship training in both intensive care medicine and emergency medicine, as well as post-graduate training in biochemistry, clinical toxicology, clinical epidemiology, and health professional education.
He is actively involved in in using translational simulation to improve patient care and the design of processes and systems at Alfred Health. He coordinates the Alfred ICU’s education and simulation programmes and runs the unit’s education website, INTENSIVE. He created the ‘Critically Ill Airway’ course and teaches on numerous courses around the world. He is one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) and is co-creator of litfl.com, the RAGE podcast, the Resuscitology course, and the SMACC conference.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Twitter, he is @precordialthump.
| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC