Semiología de la radiografía de tórax para el diagnóstico de neumonía

Abstract

This study includes the description of basic concepts related to the topic and compiles the findings generated by a chest x-ray for the diagnosis of pneumonia. It details the incidence of the disease above, as well as the predominant etiological agents, and also presents information on the radiological signs or patterns seen on a chest X-ray, such as lobar pneumonia, multilobar bronchopneumonia, and interstitial pneumonia, present in the most frequent cases of pneumonia, including community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, and aspiration pneumonia and their possible complications. The attached images facilitate the interpretation of the severity of the disease. The work also presents the opinion of renowned authors Saldías et al., Sáez de Gordoa et al., and Cemeli et al., in their studies on the “radiographic characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia in the immunocompetent adult hospitalized according to the agent causality,” the “usefulness of chest x-ray for the detection of COVID-19 pneumonia during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic” and the “clinical and evolutionary characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia in hospital patients,” respectively, concluding that, although chest radiography is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of pneumonia, there may be cases in which the radiological findings are inconclusive, especially in the early stages of the disease.