查看文章

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and progressive pulmonary scarring disorder in which individuals exhibit distinct clinical trajectories (1, 2). Currently, these trajectories are defined retrospectively, with disease progression being assessed by clinical symptoms and pulmonary function testing (PFT)(3–5). It is desirable to identify robust, specific, and sensitive methods to assess IPF prognosis. This has led to development of clinical, physiological, genetic, and molecular predictors (3, 4). However, these fail to capture regional disease variation, a task better suited to three-dimensional (3D) imaging. To this end, a computed tomography (CT)-based structural analysis of several radiological factors, including pulmonary vessel volume, has been associated with IPF prognosis (6).

Alternatively, 3D measurement of pulmonary function is now possible using hyperpolarized xenon-129 gas (129Xe) magnetic …