Table 2 Lung fibrosis imaging—pros/cons with respects to the gold standard
Lung fibrosis imaging | ||
|---|---|---|
HRCTa | PROs | High sensitivity |
CONs | Limited ability to detect disease progression/response to therapy | |
Q-CTb | PROs | Improved ability to detect disease progression/response to therapy, Increased accuracy, Automated, Rapid, Reproducible, Decreased inter-observer variability, No contrast enhancement |
CONs | Not readily available | |
Xe/He diffusion MRI | PROs | Improved ability to detect disease progression/response to therapy, Increased accuracy, Automated, Rapid, Reproducible, Decreased inter-observer variability, No radiation |
CONs | Not readily available | |
18-FDG-PET-CT | PROs | Improved ability to detect disease progression/response to therapy, Early diagnosis, Improved discrimination of varying degrees of disease severity |
CONs | Use of ionizing radiation, Long duration, Low availability, Expensive | |
Gradient echo sequence MRI | PROs | Improved imaging of tissue/blood density |
CONs | Not readily available | |
UTE/ZTE MRIb | PROs | Improved imaging of fine pulmonary structures, Rapid, Well tolerated, Improved signal-to-noise ratio, Improved contrast-to-noise ratio |
CONs | Not readily available | |