High-resolution CT of diffuse lung disease: value and limitations

The relative speed with which HRCT has become the imaging technique of choice for evaluating patients with suspected lung disease can be regarded as a testament to its effectiveness. It is as well, however, to remember some of the caveats that apply to the interpretation of the numerous studies that have championed the clinical application of HRCT. It seems unlikely that CT will be supplanted in the near future by other cross-sectional or volumetric imaging techniques for the evaluation of diffuse lung disease. The scope for further technical refinement of the hardware aspects of HRCT is probably limited but improvements in postprocessing of image data, with the potential to advance understanding of the pathophysiology of diffuse lung disease, can be anticipated.