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What Is Basilar Curvilinear Opacity?
Question: what is basilar curvilinear opacity?
My husband had an MRI and the radiologist report said he had minimal left basilar curvilinear opacity. He has had pain on his left side for a while and last week he had a procedure on his back (injections for sever stenosis of the spine) and he woke up this morning with a sharp pain in his left side. The conclusion on report said "minimal left basilar subsegmental stelectasis", could this be part of the pain?
My husband had an MRI and the radiologist report said he had minimal left basilar curvilinear opacity. He has had pain on his left side for a while and last week he had a procedure on his back (injections for sever stenosis of the spine) and he woke up this morning with a sharp pain in his left side. The conclusion on report said "minimal left basilar subsegmental stelectasis", could this be part of the pain?
Brief Answer:
It is an age related change as a result of collapse of tiny air sacs
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for writing in to us.
I have read through your query in detail.
The finding of basilar atelectasis on CT scan chest of your husband is not related to the pain he is having which is most likely due to the procedure on his back done for stenosis os the spinal canal.
The basilar atelectasis refers to minimal collapse of the lower lobes of lung on the left side. There are tiny air sacs in the lungs which might collapse to various degrees due to the the air sacs at the bases of lungs collapsing on their own weight. Since it is mentioned as minimal for your husband, it can be interpretated as changes due to aging. This can be acceptable at the age of 67 years as in the case of your husband. By itself minimal basilar atelectasis is not a serious concern unless the lung volumes are grossly reduced.
If seen at a younger age, then it can be due to obstructive causes and non obstructive causes and requires further investigations.
Hope this answers your question. Please feel free to correct any oversight in my interpretation of your problems and discuss them in detail as per your requirements.
Hope your query is answered.
Do write back if you have any doubts.
Regards,
Dr.Vivek
It is an age related change as a result of collapse of tiny air sacs
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for writing in to us.
I have read through your query in detail.
The finding of basilar atelectasis on CT scan chest of your husband is not related to the pain he is having which is most likely due to the procedure on his back done for stenosis os the spinal canal.
The basilar atelectasis refers to minimal collapse of the lower lobes of lung on the left side. There are tiny air sacs in the lungs which might collapse to various degrees due to the the air sacs at the bases of lungs collapsing on their own weight. Since it is mentioned as minimal for your husband, it can be interpretated as changes due to aging. This can be acceptable at the age of 67 years as in the case of your husband. By itself minimal basilar atelectasis is not a serious concern unless the lung volumes are grossly reduced.
If seen at a younger age, then it can be due to obstructive causes and non obstructive causes and requires further investigations.
Hope this answers your question. Please feel free to correct any oversight in my interpretation of your problems and discuss them in detail as per your requirements.
Hope your query is answered.
Do write back if you have any doubts.
Regards,
Dr.Vivek
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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