{"id":3264,"date":"2021-11-21T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=3264"},"modified":"2021-11-08T04:57:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T04:57:13","slug":"new-high-resolution-ct-scans-used-to-view-lungs-hit-with-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/new-high-resolution-ct-scans-used-to-view-lungs-hit-with-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"New \u201cHigh-Resolution\u201d CT Scans Used to View Lungs Hit with COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

X-rays<\/em> are the second-most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation known to science, falling between the very energetic gamma rays<\/em> and the less-so ultraviolet<\/em> radiation. And while this particular form of radiation isn\u2019t necessarily rare in the cosmos, there\u2019s a far more reasonable instance of X-rays that we might have seen at least once or twice in our lives: X-ray as part of radiography<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radiography in medicine actually uses more than just X-rays; it uses either ionizing<\/em> or non-ionizing<\/em> radiation in order to achieve the imaging results desired by medical experts. Ionizing radiation in this case refers to the capability of a specific form of radiation to eject an electron from atoms that it hits, \u201cionizing\u201d the atoms in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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X-rays work by passing the radiation in question through a subject for examination, which then ends up to specially-selected material that\u2019s placed behind the subject. This material in question is sensitive to X-rays; the radiation easily passes through most organic material in your body, like skin and organs. Your bones, however, absorb X-rays\u2014much like the hip replacement implants above\u2014hence why they show up in X-ray imaging results. (NIADDK, 9AO4 (Connie Raab), NIH) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

X-ray radiography, in this case, usually works by placing some material that\u2019s sensitive to X-rays behind the subject in question, like a patient. X-rays pass through material like your skin and organs just fine; bones, however, absorb them. As a result, the patient\u2019s bones appear on X-ray imaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar radiography methods work in a similar way, and have been in use since the discoverers of X-rays, German physics professor Wilhelm Conrad R\u00f6ntgen, found out that it can pass through most of your body but not bone back in 1895. Ever since, technologies have been constantly upgrading and changing, adding in newer features and possibilities that are available to people of that time, like computer processing. One example of such progression is technology called X-ray ptychography<\/em>, which was recently used in our first-ever determination of the mass of human chromosomes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021 poses to end with one such form of progression in radiographic technology, as researchers from the <\/em>European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF) just added a new entry into their scientific arsenal with the addition of the Extremely Brilliant Source<\/em> (EBS) upgrade. The new implementation turns the ESRF into the world\u2019s \u201cfirst fourth-generation synchrotron,\u201d as well as the world\u2019s now-brightest source of X-rays\u2014and as it should, apparently, as the X-rays produced by the ESRF-EBS are about 100 billion times brighter than X-rays found in conventional hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ESRF-EBS facility\u2019s new technology was used in a recent collaboration with the University College London, and is called Hierarchical Phase Contrast Tomography<\/em> (HiP-CT; and yes, that\u2019s the same \u201cCT\u201d in CT scanning). They used this new technology to scan a donated lung from a patient who suffered from COVID-19; their novel findings were published in the journal Nature Methods<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This very detailed image of a lung hit with COVID-19, with its network of vessels and similar features visible, was made possible with new technology forged from the collaboration between the European Synchrotron Research Facility and the University College London. The new technology enables medical experts to view CT scans with a resolution of one (1) micron. (Walsh et al, 2021) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The scale of operation enabled by the new EBS implementation allowed researchers to view blood vessels, a mere five (5) microns wide, in the lung of a COVID-19 patient. The findings allowed the team to identify how COVID-19 \u201ccrosslinked\u201d capillaries used for two instances: those for oxygenating blood, and those for feeding lung tissue. In doing so, the disease stymied blood oxygenation\u2014a prospect that was \u201cpreviously hypothesised but not proven,\u201d according to a press release from the University College London to news source EurekAlert!.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ability to see organs across scales like this will really be revolutionary for medical imaging. As we start to link our HiP-CT images to clinical images through AI techniques, we will\u2014for the first time\u2014be able to highly accurately validate ambiguous findings in clinical images,\u201d according to UCL Mechanical Engineering and primary author Dr. Claire Walsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Hannover Medical School Professor of Thoracic Pathology and fellow primary author Danny Jonigk: \u201cBy combining our molecular methods with the HiP-CT multiscale imaging in lungs affected by COVID-19 pneumonia, we gained a new understanding how shunting between blood vessels in a lung\u2019s two vascular systems occurs in COVID-19 injured lungs, and the impact it has on oxygen levels in our circulatory system.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In using the HiP-CT technology, the collaborators hope to establish a fully-detailed \u201cHuman Organ Atlas<\/em>,\u201d a resource that will be made available online for medical professionals and the public. The project entails detailed imaging of six particular control organs that were donated to the concerted effort, the very first of which being the lung of a COVID-19 patient from earlier. Future inclusions to the atlas include a brain, a lung, a heart, a pair of kidneys, and a spleen. The HiP-CT team hopes to provide both a detailed control lung biopsy and a biopsy from the COVID-19-infected lung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside these accomplishments, the new technology made possible by HiP-CT will enable more detailed insights into diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s disease and cancers, according to the UCL press release. The authors also hope to complete the Human Organ Atlas, with it containing detailed insights into diseases and the organs that they affect. In doing so, they hope to be able to aid future researchers in diagnosing and treating these diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Dr. Walsh noted in a statement: \u201cbeing able to see tiny organ structures in 3D in their correct spatial context is key to understanding how our bodies are structured and how they therefore function.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n