Quantitative CT predicts outcomes in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Study

The key findings of this study were as follows:

1. A total of 393 participants received CT scans, and 221 of them had pulmonary function tests that had been completed within 90 days after the CT scan.

2. The baseline DTA score was strongly correlated with the annual rate of decline in forced vital capacity and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity, according to linear mixed-effect modeling.

3. Greater lung fibrosis was linked, in multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, to worse transplant-free survival.

In conclusion, these results in the Australian Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry (AIPFR) demonstrate significant relationships between outcomes, independent of pulmonary function, and the objectively assessed morphologic degree of pulmonary fibrosis on CT using a deep learning method. The findings from this IPF cohort encourage additional research to assess the use of DTA in other types of progressive pulmonary fibrosis.

Reference: 

Humphries, S. M., Mackintosh, J. A., Jo, H. E., Walsh, S. L. F., Silva, M., Calandriello, L., Chapman, S., Ellis, S., Glaspole, I., Goh, N., Grainge, C., Hopkins, P. M. A., Keir, G. J., Wells, A. U., Lynch, D. A., & Corte, T. J. (2022). Quantitative computed tomography predicts outcomes in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In Respirology. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/resp.14333