Optimal HRCT Technique for Evaluation of ILD

The advent of HRCT and the development of advanced reconstruction algorithms has allowed confident diagnoses of interstitial lung disease without surgical lung biopsy, a significant advancement as lung biopsy confers additional risk.⁵ A definitive usual interstitial pneumonia pattern on HRCT as interpreted by a radiologist with expertise in interstitial lung disease is sufficient to make an accurate diagnosis as it is predictive of histopathologic UIP.⁵⁴¹⁴⁵ Several studies have shown that the positive predictive value of HRCT for interstitial lung disease is up to 96%.⁴²⁴³