pulmonary disorders
Pleural Fibrosis and Calcification
Postinflammatory
Pleural inflammation commonly causes acute pleural thickening due to fibrosis. In most cases, the thickening resolves almost completely. Some patients are left with minor degrees of pleural thickening, which usually causes no symptoms or impairment of lung function. Occasionally, the lung becomes encased with a thick, fibrous pleural peel that limits expansion, pulls the mediastinum toward the side of disease, and impairs pulmonary function. Chest x-ray shows asymmetry of the lungs with thickened pleura (trapped lung). Differentiating localized pleural thickening from loculated pleural fluid may be difficult on x-ray, but this differentiation is easily made with CT. Pleural fibrosis after inflammation can, on occasion, calcify. Calcification produces a dense image on the chest x-ray and almost always involves the visceral pleura. Postinflammatory calcifications are invariably unilateral. 