Radiographic findings of screening chest films in Priest Hospital.

OBJECTIVE To study radiographic findings in abnormal chest films from screening programs as part of a Sustained and Holistic Health Care in Priests and Novices in Commemoration of His Majesty the King's 60 Years Accession to the Throne MATERIAL AND METHOD A retrospective, descriptive study of chest x-ray findings in phase l of the screening of chest film program was performed between February 2006 and June 2006. RESULTS One thousand one hundred twenty two cases participated in phase l of the screening program. Nine hundred and three cases had a chest x-ray. One hundred thirty one cases had abnormal chest film from radiographic reports. The age range was 17-92 years, with mean age of 42.69 years. The abnormalities found were classified into abnormal heart size in 34 cases (25.95%), pulmonary lesions in 80 cases (61.07%), pleural lesions in 7 cases (5.34%) and other abnormality in 10 cases (7.64%). CONCLUSION The result of abnormality that was detected from chest films, frontal PA view, was about 14.51%. However, the authors cannot assume that the cases that have a normal chest film are the healthy group. Therefore, a physical and laboratory examinations are a useful combination to classify cases in healthy, asymptomatic, or symptomatic group. In the asymptomatic cases, the results are useful for early detection and treatment. The early diagnosis can improve the result of the treatment and quality of life. This study will be useful for other epidemiology and clinical study.