Localized interstitial pneumonia is a risk factor of postoperative acute interstitial pneumonia (AIP) after thoracotomy for lung cancer

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of computed tomography (CT) for detection of interstitial pneumonia (IP) as a risk factor of postoperative acute interstitial pneumonia (AIP). Subjects and Methods: A total of 553 patients with primary lung cancer underwent thoracotomy. Nine (1.6%) had postoperative AIP. Six of the 9 died due to AIP and 8 of the 9 had localized IP findings on chest CT. Chest CT of 303 patients were reviewed retrospectively, and 36 (11.9%) had IP findings (diffuse 2.3%, localized 9.6%). Postoperative AlP occurred in 11.8% of patients with IP findings, but only in 0.2% without such findings (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Detection of IP findings by chest CT is important to identify the high-risk patients who may have postoperative AIP after thoracotomy.