Oct. 7, 2012 A new approach to lung scanning could improve the
diagnosis and treatment of a lung disease that affects
approximately 24 million Americans and is the country's third-
highest cause of death. In a new paper published online in
Nature Medicine, a team from the University of Michigan Medical
School reports on a technique called parametric response
mapping, or PRM. They used PRM to analyze computed tomography,
or CT, scans of the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, known as COPD, who took part in the national
COPDGene study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute. The researchers report that the PRM technique for
analyzing CT scans allows them to better distinguish between
early-stage damage to the small airways of the lungs, and more
severe damage known as emphysema. They've also shown that the
overall severity of a patient's disease, as measured with PRM,
matches closely with the patient's performance on standard lung
tests based on breathing ability. "Essen