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Pleural fibrosis and calcification
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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[Post-inflammatory pleural fibrosis and calcification
Pleural inflammation usually causes an acute thickening of the pleura. In most cases it subsequently disappears almost completely, but in some patients there is a persistence of a pleural thickening, which usually does not cause clinical manifestations or impairment of lung function. Sometimes the lung is a "shell" of a dense fibrous pleural capsule, limiting the expansion of the lung, pulling the mediastinum to the sore side and worsening its function. When radiographing chest organs in this case, there is an asymmetry of the lungs with a thickened pleura (carapaceous lung). Differential diagnosis of local thickening of the pleura and clotted pleural effusions can be difficult in radiography, but CT can assess the condition of the entire surface of the pleura.
Post-inflammatory pleural fibrosis may, in some cases, become calcified. Calcinates are visualized in the form of X-ray densities in chest radiography; almost always there is involvement of the visceral pleura. Post-inflammatory calcification is invariably unilateral.
Conditioned by the exposure of asbestos
Exposure to asbestos can lead to a central, blemish-like, pleural fibrosis, sometimes with calcification, which is usually observed more than 20 years after the start of exposure. Perhaps the defeat of any pleural or pericardial surface, but asbestos induced pleural overlaps are usually seen in the lower 2/3 of the chest and are bilateral. Calcification is most often affected by the parietal diaphragmatic pleura, which may be the only sign. Dense pleural fibrosis can also be a consequence of exposure to asbestos.