Pulmonary manifestations of wegener granulomatosis: CT findings in 57 patients and a review of the literature.

ABSTRACT

Wegener granulomatosis is a multisystem disease of unknown cause characterized by a necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis. In comparison to other vasculitides, the lung is the most common organ involved in wegener granulomatosis presenting with a very aggressive airways pathology and chronic relapsing course. Chest radiographs fail to describe the pattern and distribution of thoracic pathology sufficiently, and CT has shown to be more sensitive for detecting lung involvement. We present the CT findings of 57 patients with wegener granulomatosis and a review of the literature.