Pulmonary functional CT and MRI imaging

Pulmonary functional CT and MR imaging have been put forward as a new research and diagnostic tool mainly to overcome the limitations of nuclear medicine study. In the last decade, technical advances in CT and MR imaging have been reported as useful for functional and morphological assessment of various pulmonary diseases. Therefore, many scientific presentations and articles have been reported at annual meetings of not only radiological, but also pulmonological societies. This review article covers pulmonary CT and MR techniques for functional assessment of pulmonary diseases. Pulmonary functional CT and MR imaging provides not only morphology related, but also pulmonary function related information. It has the potential to replace nuclear medicine studies for the identification of regional pulmonary function and may be used as biomarkers in patients with pulmonary diseases. We believe that the findings of further basic studies as well as clinical applications of this new technique will validate the real significance of pulmonary functional CT and MR imaging for the future of pulmonary disease assessment and its usefulness for diagnostic radiology and pulmonary medicine. (author)