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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Multi-modal Pulmonary Imaging: Using Complementary Information from CT and Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI to Evaluate Lung Structure-Function
Published on: April 12, 2024
Medical imaging in occupational and environmental lung disease
Christian W Cox1, David A Lynch
1aDepartment of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota bNational Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Purpose Of Review:
The purpose of this review is to provide an up-to-date summary of developments in medical imaging in the diagnosis, surveillance, treatment, and screening of occupational and environmental lung diseases, focusing on articles published within the past 2 years.
Recent Findings:
Many new exposures resulting in lung disease have been described worldwide; medical imaging, particularly computed tomography (CT), is often pivotal in recognition and characterization of these new patterns of lung injury. Chest radiography remains important to surveillance studies tracking the long-term evolution of disease and effectiveness of air quality regulation. Finally, studies are proving the utility of screening with low-dose CT, and technical advances offer the prospect of further CT dose reduction with ultra-low-dose CT.
Summary:
In understanding the best practices and new developments in medical imaging, the occupational and environmental medicine clinician can optimize diagnosis and management of related lung diseases.
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