Validación de la radiografía estándar de tórax en el diagnóstico de nódulos pulmonares en pacientes oncológicos adultos, Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga. Cuenca, 2019-2020

Abstract

Background: The lungs are one of the organs most affected by metastatic nodules. Radiography is a rapid nodular detection method in cancer patients.

Objective: To determine the validity of the standard chest radiograph in the diagnosis of pulmonary nodules in adult cancer patients at the “José Carrasco Arteaga” hospital in the year 2019-2020.

Methodology: Diagnostic test validation study with 477 patients, taking tomography as the reference test.

Results: 65% of the patients were female. The mean age was 60 years ± 14.006. In radiography 14.3% were visualized and in tomography 42.3% nodules. The nodules had well-defined borders in 77.9% on radiography and 83.7% on tomography. The predominant density of the nodules was soft tissues with 82.4% and 61.9%, for radiography and tomography respectively. The upper lobes were the most frequent site of presentation, 50% for radiography and 52% for tomography. Radiography had a sensitivity of 30.69%, specificity of 97.82%, PPV 91.18%, NPV 65.77%, and diagnostic accuracy 69.39% for the detection of pulmonary nodules.

Conclusion: The predominant population was female. The mean age of presentation was 60 years ± 14.006. The predominant characteristics of the nodules in the two methods were soft tissue density, well-defined borders and located in the upper lobes. Radiography shows a sensitivity of 30.69% and a specificity of 97.82% for the detection of pulmonary nodules.