New technology improves detection of lung disease

Early detectionof lung disease in China is expected to greatly improve in a few years with theapplication of new technology, contributing to better prevention and treatment.

After five yearsof research, scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics atthe Chinese Academy of Sciences obtained several clear images of human lungsdisplaying gas exchange functions - a vital indication of lung health - thefirst such images obtained in China.

"Comparedwith traditionally used lung-detection technologies such as computedtomography, the new technology can produce images with noninvasive andnonradioactive methods that visualize defects in the gas exchange function oflungs," said a statement released by the institute in Hubei province.

Currently,several methods have been adopted to detect lung disease, such as X-rayscanning, computed tomography and positron emission tomography, but thosemethods can only detect the structure of lungs and cannot obtain information ongas exchange in the lungs.

"When anabnormality is found with a lung's structure, its function has already beendamaged," said Zhou Xin, a researcher at the Wuhan institute who led theproject.

"The newtechnology can find damage or abnormality in functions, which might be hints oflung disease in the very early stage," he said.

The images areobtained through having patients breathe in the xenon-129 isotope, a kind ofinert gas.

The gas istreated so it can be easily detected by magnetic resonance imaging scanners.Areas in the lungs that are filled with the gas will show in the image, whilethe areas where the gas fails to enter will be dark.

"A fewother institutes and universities in some other countries such as the UnitedStates are also doing similar research, but the gas they use is mostly helium,which is more scarce," Zhou said.

Helium and xenonare the two most popular and reliable inert gases suitable for such operationsdue to their special physical natures, he said.

The project wasstarted in 2010 with more than 60 scientists and doctors from the WuhanInstitute of Physics and Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences andZhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, and received more than 30 million yuan($4.8 million) in funding from the central government, Zhou said.

Wu Guangyao, adoctor at Zhongnan Hospital who also participated in the program, said theimages obtained by this technology are much clearer than those obtained by CT.

"If thetechnology is used clinically, it would benefit many patients with lungdisease, since it could improve detection," he said.