Quantitative analysis of lung parenchymal involvement in Behcet's disease by the novel automatic program

ObjectivesWe aimed to quantitatively analyze lung parenchymal changes in Behcet's patients and to detect early parenchymal quantitative changes that occur in the absence of positive visual radiological findings. MethodsIn our study, a total of 31 patients with Behcet's disease, 17 with positive radiological findings and 14 patients without positive radiological findings, and a control group of 33 individuals were evaluated. The automatic program determined lung volumes, lung densities, and opacity volume percentages by evaluating the contrast-enhanced lung computed tomography scans. ResultsThe total lung volume was 3632.98 +/- 1100.53 mL in the Behcet's disease patient group and 4925.70 +/- 1098.88 mL in the control group, and there was a significant decrease in the total lung volume in Behcet's disease patients (P < 0.0001). The mean lung density was -723.73 +/- 65.16 in the Behcet's disease patient group and -767.35 +/- 41.17 in the control group, and there was a significant increase in the mean density in the Behcet's patients (P = 0.0023). A significantly higher correlation was observed between lung density and lung volume in Behcet's patients (P < 0.0001, r = -0.795). The lung volume of Behcet's disease patients with negative radiological findings was significantly lower than that of the control group (P = 0.0342). ConclusionsLung volumetric changes in Behcet's disease patients are the quantitative data most affected by the disease. In addition, lung volume decreases in Behcet's patients who do not have visual parenchymal involvement.