I just had a ct scan and it says lung bases: anterior dependent atelectasis. otherwise clear imaged lung bases. the visualized cardiac structures are unremarkable. can someone translate? should i worry?

Please describe the reason for the CT scan. Areas of collapse may occur within the lung and are often associated with mucus plugging. This occurs in Asthma and COPD for example. If you have pulmonary symptoms, watch for fever, cough and shortness of breath.

You should let us know the reason why you had the CT chest done. That result only means your breathing, especially inspiration effort, was not deep when the CT scan done which might happen if you had pain in the thorax or abdomen or you were breathing too fast during the scan. The paragraph "otherwise clear images of the lung bases" negate the previous reading. Your chest CT images are fine.