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The Lung View

Imaging function and anatomy of breathing lungs simultaneously

20 October 2022

The Lung View

In 1971, Wimbledon in London became home to an imaging revolution – the world’s first CT scan on a patient. CT scans are now commonplace, creating 3D images of organs by capturing multiple X-ray images from different angles. This makes imaging moving organs difficult. In mouse studies of lung disease, researchers have overcome this using retrospective gating (RG), capturing more images of the lungs and grouping them into breathing phases, each reconstructed separately – this takes longer. The organ’s function has been measured using another technique – X-ray-based lung function measurement (XLF). Now, a new faster technique has been developed, RG-based XLF, which measures lung anatomy and function simultaneously. Testing it in healthy and mdx mice, which model Duchenne muscular dystrophy, proved successful. Function and anatomy data (pictured) were captured in just 34 seconds. For example, the abnormal shape and position of the diaphragm in mdx mice (right) was identified when compared with healthy lungs (left).

Written by Lux Fatimathas

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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