Thoracic imaging

Team: Widmann G, Luger A, Jöbstl A, Schwabl C, Deeg J, Gruber L, Recheis W

The Radiology published follow-up study of COVID-19 patients (CovILD study) carried out together with the University Clinic for Internal Medicine II (CovILD study) for the systematic examination of post-inflammatory sequelae to the lungs attracted particular attention.

A first feasibility study in Austria to establish low-dose CT lung cancer screening in the Innsbruck/Tyrol region is currently being prepared with the NITOG - Natters Innsbruck Thoracic Oncology Group. The aim is, based on the evidence of the available data on lung cancer screenings and cost-effectiveness analyses, to develop a comprehensive lung health check program that, in addition to the early detection of lung cancer, also leads to the early detection of other lung diseases, such as COPD.

As a pionieering institution for use of AI-based texture analysis of lung pathology, qualitative and quantitative texture analyzes for the evaluation of interstitial lung changes are evaluated.

Other scientific projects investigate the value of computer-assisted density and texture-based pulmonary emphysema quantification and body composition measurements in patients with COPD.

To evaluate the value of different AI-based computer assisted detection tools, detetction rates and volumes of primary and secondary pulmonary nodules in CT and PET-CT are evaluated.

A project with the Department of Gynaecology investigates early detection of immunotherapy-associated pulmonary complications in breast cancer women.

Abb. 1. Density-based quantification of ground-glass changes in vasculitis.

Abb. 2. Texture-based quantification of different patterns in interstitial lung disease.

Selected publications

Luger AK, Sonnweber T, Gruber L, Schwabl C, Cima K, Tymoszuk P, Gerstner AK, Pizzini A, Sahanic S, Boehm A, Coen M, Strolz CJ, Wöll E, Weiss G, Kirchmair R, Feuchtner GM, Prosch H, Tancevski I, Löffler-Ragg J, Widmann G. Chest CT of Lung Injury 1 Year after COVID-19 Pneumonia: The CovILD Study. Radiology. 2022 Aug;304(2):462-470. doi: 10.1148/radiol.211670. Epub 2022 Mar 29. PMID: 35348379; PMCID: PMC8988857.

Sonnweber T, Tymoszuk P, Sahanic S, Boehm A, Pizzini A, Luger A, Schwabl C, Nairz M, Grubwieser P, Kurz K, Koppelstätter S, Aichner M, Puchner B, Egger A, Hoermann G, Wöll E, Weiss G, Widmann G, Tancevski I, Löffler-Ragg J. Investigating phenotypes of pulmonary COVID-19 recovery: A longitudinal observational prospective multicenter trial. Elife. 2022 Feb 8;11:e72500. doi: 10.7554/eLife.72500. PMID: 35131031; PMCID: PMC8896831.

Sviridenko A, Boehm A, di Santo G, Uprimny C, Nilica B, Fritz J, Giesel FL, Haberkorn U, Sahanic S, Decristoforo C, Tancevski I, Widmann G, Loeffler-Ragg J, Virgolini I. Enhancing Clinical Diagnosis for Patients With Persistent Pulmonary Abnormalities After COVID-19 Infection: The Potential Benefit of 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT. Clin Nucl Med. 2022 Dec 1;47(12):1026-1029. doi: 10.1097/RLU.0000000000004437. Epub 2022 Oct 15. PMID: 36257062; PMCID: PMC9653058.

Sonnweber T, Grubwieser P, Sahanic S, Böhm AK, Pizzini A, Luger A, Schwabl C, Koppelstätter S, Kurz K, Puchner B, Sperner-Unterweger B, Hüfner K, Wöll E, Nairz M, Widmann G, Tancevski I, Löffler-Ragg J, Weiss G. The Impact of Iron Dyshomeostasis and Anaemia on Long-Term Pulmonary Recovery and Persisting Symptom Burden after COVID-19: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study. Metabolites. 2022 Jun 14;12(6):546. doi: 10.3390/metabo12060546. PMID: 35736479; PMCID: PMC9228477.

Schwarz M, Kocher F, Niedersuess-Beke D, Rudzki J, Hochmair M, Widmann G, Hilbe W, Pircher A. Immunosuppression for Immune Checkpoint-related Toxicity Can Cause Pneumocystis Jirovecii Pneumonia (PJP) in Non-small-cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): A Report of 2 Cases. Clin Lung Cancer. 2019 May;20(3):e247-e250.

Widmann G. Challenges in implementation of lung cancer screening—radiology requirements. memo (2019) 12:166-170.