Investigating Types and Frequency of Vascular Findings in Pulmonary CT Angiography of Baker females with Pulmonary Complaints in Comparison with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

Still in many places all over the world including East Azerbaijan Province and particularly in rural areas, women use traditional methods such as using oven and organic fuels (wood, turd) to bake bread. It has been shown that the smoke organic fuels in places with inadequate ventilation for a long term may cause a range of problems in the respiratory system. CT angiography is a good and less invasive method in evaluating pulmonary vascular system. This study tried to compare CT angiography findings in the lungs of bread-cooking women with respiratory complaints and females with COPD and no history of bread cooking. In this case-control setting, 36 patients in the bread-cooking group (case) and 36 patients with COPD in the control group underwent lung CT angiography. Pathologic findings including dilation of the bronchial arteries, hyper vascularization of the bronchial arteries, changes in pulmonary trunk diameter, silent embolism and any other abnormal changes were documented and compared between the two groups. The mean duration of bread-cooking was 4.78±3.17 years (2-12).  Abnormal vascular findings in lung CT angiographies of the bread-cooking women with respiratory complaints were dilation of the bronchial arteries (22.2%), hyper vascularization of the bronchial arteries (8.3%), silent embolism (11.1%) and parenchymal emphysematous changes (13.9%). They were documented in the COPD group in 36.1%, 27.8%, 27.8% and 3.33% of the patients, respectively. Accordingly, the frequency of hyper vascularization of the bronchial arteries and parenchymal emphysematous changes was significantly higher in the COPD group than in the bread-cooking women. In contrast, the mean diameter of the pulmonary trunk was significantly higher in the bread-cooking group (3.32 vs. 3.17 cm). Abnormal findings in lung CT angiography of bread-cooking women with respiratory symptoms are frequent and in some cases, they are different from findings in the lungs of women with COPD and no previous history of bread-cooking.