Overview and outlook of CT quantification technology for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of disease with diverse clinical manifestations and strong heterogeneity; thus early diagnosis is difficult. Patients at stable period often suffer from poor life quality. Frequent hospitalization induced by acute exacerbations has high social and economic burdens. COPD is predicted to be the third leading cause of death in the world by 2020 and the fifth leading cause of disability. At present, there is a lack of accurate quantitative technology. Our research team, in bearing of the Public Welfare Special Industry of National Health Commission "Diagnostic and Evaluation System of Respiratory Diseases Based on Digital Lung" and on the basis of CT quantitative technology, investigated the morphological changes of pulmonary parenchyma, bronchi and pulmonary vessels as well as their correlations. We provide an individualized, standardized and comprehensive evaluation for COPD patients. In this paper we also discuss the hot issues of COPD and point out the future research direction.