New Techniques in Thoracic Imaging PDF

Preface

This book is the first of a series of volumes designed to provide a focused update on new and emerging techniques in radiology. New Techniques in Thoracic Imaging is primarily intended for practicing radiologists, but will also prove useful to pulmonologists, thoracic surgeons, and physicians training in these specialties.

The primary goals of this book are three-fold. The first is to provide a pragmatic compendium of the state of the art in the imaging of thoracic disorders commonly encountered in daily practice. Toward this end, several chapters focus on the subjects of imaging the solitary pulmonary nodule, thoracic lymph nodes, pulmonary embolism, emphysema, and aortic abnormalities.

Second, it is our goal to familiarize the reader with new technologies that are playing an increasingly important role in thoracic imaging. With this objective in mind, we have included several technology-based chapters devoted to CT fluoroscopy, multidetector helical CT, and digital radiography. Although high-resolution CT is a firmly established imaging method, we have also included a chapter on this subject in order to provide the reader with an update on this important technique. A separate chapter devoted to positron emission tomography was not included because this technique is reviewed in the chapters on imaging the solitary pulmonary nodule and thoracic lymph nodes.

Our final goal is to introduce the reader to emerging techniques that are not yet standard practice but will likely play an important role in thoracic imaging in the near future. Chapters on the subjects of lung cancer screening, magnetic resonance ventilation imaging, magnetic resonance assessment of pulmonary embolism, and virtual bronchoscopy are designed to familiarize the reader with the potential contributions and challenges of these emerging technologies.

This book is a collaborative project that has benefited from the help of many. We are especially grateful to the expert contributing authors of this book, including: Drs. Suzanne Aquino, Michael Blake, Timothy Carroll, Qun Chen, 1. Richard Choi, Cesario Ciccotosto, Jannette Collins, Eric Crotty, Lane Donnelly, Jeremy Erasmus, Matthew Freedman, Lawrence Goodman, Curtis Green, Hiroto Hatabu, Ella Kazerooni, Jeffrey Klein, Vu Ming Mai, James MacFall, Holman Page McAdams, and Lacey Washington. We would also like to thank Geoffrey Greenwood, Ph.D., Consulting Managing Director at Marcel Dekker, Inc., for providing us the opportunity to edit the first edition of this series; Herbert Kressel, M.D., and Philip Templeton, M.D., our departmental chairmen, for encouragement and support; Richard Johnson, for outstanding editorial assistance; and Nancy Williams, for administrative assistance.

We hope that the information provided in this book proves useful to its readers in the practice of thoracic radiology now and in the future.