Thoracic computed tomography in the progressive fibrotic phenotype
Anand Devaraj1, Gianluca Milanese2, Nicola Sverzellati2
1Department of Radiology, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK. National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, UK.
Purpose Of Review:
To discuss rationale and methods for determining progressive lung fibrosis on thoracic computed tomography (CT) and describe limitations and challenges.
Recent Findings:
Identifying patients with progressive lung fibrosis is important to determine optimal treatment. Serial high-resolution computed tomography is a method of determining disease progression. A number of studies are reviewed in this article, that have explored various parameters (both visual and automated) that signify progressive fibrosis on CT.
Summary:
To reliably use serial CT as a marker of disease progression in fibrotic lung disease, clinicians and radiologists need to be aware of the optimal methods for identifying changes in disease extent, and understand their limitations.
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