Characteristic CT findings of community-aquired pneumonias

Chest radiographs facilitate the management of community-acquired pneumonia. In both Western countries and in Japan, the indication for computed tomography (CT) is limited to the cases showing no abnormalities on chest radiographs, as described in the standard guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia in adults published in 2007. Recently, however, several reports showed the usefulness of CT, particularly high-resolution CT, for differentiating pneumonia from bronchopneumonia by enabling analysis of morphological characteristics and lesion distribution as an outcome of the mechanism of infection. These outcomes might enable identification of the organisms responsible for the infections.