Tridimentional reconstruction of helical CT scan can overestimate tumor invasion of the chest wall

ABSTRACT

In this case the standard automatic trimentional reconstruction of helical CT scan overestimated the extent of chest wall invasion by a lung tumor. MRI gave a better definition and surgical excision with good gross microscopical margins could be performed. Retrospectively, slice by slice free-hand function tridimentional reconstruction of stored helical CT scan images resulted closer to reality. A word of caution is advised to avoid therapeutic mistakes.