What does “Sequelae of” mean on a radiology report?
The leftover traces of something that happened in the past.
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General explanations of common wording, not advice about your own scan. Ask the doctor who ordered it what your results mean for you.
What Radily gives back
Your chest CT report says
Scattered ground-glass opacities are noted in the bilateral upper lobes measuring up to 8mm. No consolidation, pleural effusion, or pneumothorax.
Radily explains
Your scan shows some small hazy areas in the upper part of both lungs. There is no solid patch of the kind pneumonia makes, no fluid around the lungs and no collapsed lung.
Ask your doctor: what might be causing the hazy areas, and do I need a follow-up scan?
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Why the radiologist wrote it that way
Latin for what follows. When tissue heals it often leaves a permanent mark — a scar, a calcified spot, a thickened area. Naming it as a sequela records that the event is over and this is only its residue.
Is this good or bad news?
Generally a reassuring word, because it explicitly places the event in the past. "Sequelae of prior infection" means you had an infection, it resolved, and the scan can still see where it was. Nothing is active.
What it does not mean
- An ongoing or current problem.
- A complication. It is a healed trace, not a consequence needing treatment.
Where you will see it
Words in this phrase
- ChronicLong-standing or persistent condition (opposite of acute).
- FibrosisThickening and scarring of tissue, often from chronic inflammation or injury.
- CalcificationCalcium deposits in tissue. Can be normal (aging) or indicate old injury, infection, or other conditions.
- ResolutionThe sharpness or clarity of an image, or the process of getting better.
One phrase is not the whole report
What this sentence means for you depends on everything else your report says. Radily reads the whole thing and explains it in plain English — and can talk you through it on video, so you are not reading medical language alone.
Other phrases on your report
- No acute intracranial abnormalityThe scan found nothing new or urgent inside the skull — no bleeding, no swelling, no sign of injury needing treatment today.
- UnremarkableNormal. There was nothing worth remarking on.
- Mild degenerative changesOrdinary age-related wear in the joints or spine — the kind almost everyone develops, to some degree, as they get older.
- No acute cardiopulmonary processThe chest X-ray shows no new problem with the heart or lungs — no pneumonia, no fluid around the lungs, no collapsed lung, and a heart that looks a normal size.
This explains how a phrase is commonly used in radiology reports. It is not a diagnosis, not a reading of your scan, and not medical advice. Only your doctor can tell you what your own report means.