Quantifying Post-Traumatic Lung Damage
Blunt chest trauma is commonly associated with motor vehicle collisions and the most common closed chest soft tissue injury is pulmonary contusion, affecting 10-17% of all trauma admissions. Previous work has shown a relationship between the amount of contusion and the development of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Research is being done to develop a controlled, repeatable approach for quantifying the amount of damage to the lungs after blunt chest trauma. Ultimately the results of this research will be used in the development of an algorithm to predict the onset of ARDS following blunt chest trauma. The method will also serve as a foundation for future outcome-based lung injury research.
Figure 1. 3D reconstruction of the chest cavity from a CT scan showing the anatomical location of the lungs in a healthy patient
Figure 2. 3D reconstruction of post traumatic lungs. The pink shows high opacity(not typical) lung tissue and the translucent green shows typical opacity lung tissue.