RADIOGRAPHIC APPEARANCE OF MYCOPLASMAL PNEUMONIA

Abstract

As there are contradictory opinions on the radiographic appearance of mycoplasma pneumonia, the chest examinations of 59 patients with at least a 4-fold increase of the complement fixation titer were studied retrospectively. The investigation shows that there is a great variety of radiologic patterns from interstitial, disseminated infiltrates to total lobar consolidation. The alveolar pattern seems to be more common in women, but there is no relation to age, duration, season or bacterial superinfection. A development from interstitial infiltrates to alveolar changes or vice versa during the course of the illness was not confirmed in this study. The radiographic variability may be explained by the alveolar infiltrates being an inflammatory reaction to Mycoplasma pneumoniae and the interstitial densities being an immunologic response. No definite difference between bacterial and mycoplasmal pneumonias was observed, but a multitude of alveolar infiltrates speaks for a mycoplasmal origin.