Advances in physiologic lung assessment via electron beam computed tomography

Commercially available CT scanners are capable of volumetric data acquisition in a breath-hold, and electron beam CT is capable of stop-action imaging of the heart and lungs in a single or a few slices. Static, volumetric imaging of the lung is inadequate in that much of lung pathology is a dynamic phenomenon and, thus, is only detectable if the lung is imaged as air and blood are flowing. There remains the requirement for an X-ray CT scanner with the capability of obtaining 1 mm contiguous sections spanning the apical to basal extent of the lung with, ideally, 15 line pairs per centimeter resolution and a 50 msec scan aperture for a full volumetric compliment of sections. This paper presents our laboratory's current state-of-the-art in dynamic CT imaging with a look to the future.