Acquired Cardiac Disease Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Patients with acquired heart disease can present with classic clinical syndromes, such as angina and…

Thoracic Interventional Techniques Percutaneous Transthoracic Needle Biopsy Image-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) of the lung is an important procedure in the diagnosis of thoracic and extrathoracic malignancies. It is…

Adult Congenital Heart Disease Advances in the treatment of congenital heart disease over the past five decades have led to significant growth in the number of surviving patients. Accurate statistics…

The Thoracic Aorta Many articles and books have been written about the aorta. However, there is still confusion regarding the aorta and aortic diseases among radiologists. Specifically, confusion exists regarding…

Radiology of the Pleura Evaluation of the pleura is in several important ways the evil twin of evaluation of the mediastinum. Whereas plain film assessment of the mediastinum is extremely…

Diffuse Lung Disease Imaging has a number of important goals in the patient with diffuse lung disease: Differential diagnosis; Specific diagnosis, if possible; Delineation of extent of disease—may influence choice…

Obstructive Lung Disease Obstructive lung diseases are characterized by progressive expiratory airway flow limitation and respiratory symptoms, including chronic cough, sputum production, and dyspnea. These diseases are common and associated…

Pulmonary Manifestations of Systemic Diseases Many systemic diseases have thoracic manifestations. In some patients the initial presentation of the disease can be abnormality on chest x-ray (CXR) or chest computed…

Thoracic Trauma Trauma is one of the leading causes of death and disability, often affecting young otherwise healthy individuals (1,2). Chest injuries are a significant contributor to trauma-related deaths and…