Description

Imaging is increasingly used for the non-invasive assessment of pulmonary health. Alongside this increased usage, there is enhanced interest in quantitative imaging methods that provide robust, repeatable, and objective measures of lung structure and function. At the forefront of this effort is quantitative computed tomography (qCT). CT imaging is the gold standard for high-resolution imaging of pulmonary structure, and the underlying physics of CT imaging is highly amenable to quantitative analysis.

In addition to qCT, MRI is garnering increased interest as a modality for pulmonary imaging. Like CT, MRI is non-invasive, and it has the additional advantage of being ionizing radiation-free, making it more suitable for repeat imaging and for use in pediatric patients. Traditionally, MRI was not often used for lung imaging due to several difficulties regarding the acquisition of quality images in the lungs. However, recent advances to pulmonary MRI methods have enabled the acquisition of high-quality images of pulmonary structure and function. These advances include the use of ultra-short and zero echo time (UTE and ZTE, respectively) MRI methods, as well as the use of gaseous contrast agents such as hyperpolarized 129Xe.

Despite these advances in qCT and MRI methods, the clinical applications for these imaging techniques are often unclear. Moreover, as new techniques, many of the imaging biomarkers in use have been independently developed by multiple sites and thus require standardization. As such, there is an urgent need both to standardize imaging/analysis techniques and to determine optimal clinical applications for these novel quantitative imaging methods.