What radiographic finding is commonly seen in COPD?

What radiographic finding is commonly seen in COPD?

• A. Hyperinflation with diaphragmatic flattening
• B. Lobar consolidation
• C. Large pleural effusion
• D. Normal heart size

Answer: (B)

In COPD, air trapping from obstructed airflow causes the lungs to become chronically hyperinflated. The radiographic hallmark is hyperinflation with diaphragmatic flattening. You often see increased lung volumes, a more horizontal diaphragmatic dome, and crowding of the ribs on the chest film, sometimes with bullae or subsegmental atelectasis from chronic changes. This reflects the loss of elastic recoil and air trapping that define COPD. Lobar consolidation would point toward a localized infection such as pneumonia, not the diffuse hyperinflation of COPD. A large pleural effusion would blur or blunt the costophrenic angles and shift the mediastinum, which COPD does not characteristically produce. A normal heart size can occur in COPD, but the classic, commonly seen radiographic change is hyperinflation with diaphragmatic flattening.

In COPD, air trapping from obstructed airflow causes the lungs to become chronically hyperinflated. The radiographic hallmark is hyperinflation with diaphragmatic flattening. You often see increased lung volumes, a more horizontal diaphragmatic dome, and crowding of the ribs on the chest film, sometimes with bullae or subsegmental atelectasis from chronic changes. This reflects the loss of elastic recoil and air trapping that define COPD.

Lobar consolidation would point toward a localized infection such as pneumonia, not the diffuse hyperinflation of COPD. A large pleural effusion would blur or blunt the costophrenic angles and shift the mediastinum, which COPD does not characteristically produce. A normal heart size can occur in COPD, but the classic, commonly seen radiographic change is hyperinflation with diaphragmatic flattening.