Parenchymal lesions; infiltrates and masses

Ordinary X-ray technique has a high sensitivity to detect parenchymal lung-lesions and is indeed able to characterise them correctly in the majority of cases. However, CT is often used to characterise nodular or suspicious mass-like lesions and for further diagnosis of various lung-diseases like fibrosis, emphysema, sarcoidosis and occupational diseases. CT is also useful for guidance when taking biopsies in hospitalised patients.