Drs. Claudia Henschke and David Yankelevitz are developing new technologies to diagnose diseased lungs, in particular lungs of people suffering from emphysema. Working with a team of researchers and technical specialists at Cornell University Medical College and the Cornell Theory Center (CTC), Henschke and Yankelevitz are finding new ways to look at lung disease by enhancing current imaging technology. They are extending conventional 2D CT scanning technology to create 3D files of the lungs within the chest cavity. Henschke's team is pioneering methods for presurgical diagnosis of the most damaged regions of lung tissue. These techniques will allow doctors to target such areas for removal during lung-reduction surgery.
In the process of exploring new ways to use CT for emphysema diagnosis, the team discovered other possible applications for their work. "As we apply various image processing algorithms to quantitfy different types of lung disease, we should be able to provide effective tools for measuring response to various treatment regimes," says Henschke.