Lung density changes observed in vivo in rat lungs after irradiation: Variations among and within individual lungs

Quantifying Local Radiation-Induced Lung Damage From Computed Tomography

“…Radiation-induced changes in the lung, such as edema, cell infiltration into air spaces, thickened alveolar walls, and fibrosis, cause density changes (9). These density changes can be noninvasively measured using computed tomography (CT) imaging.…”

“…These density changes can be noninvasively measured using computed tomography (CT) imaging. This imaging modality is generally used to image radiation-induced pulmonary injury in both humans and animal models (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). In most studies, the mean lung density in the whole lung or a large part of it was used to quantify tissue damage.…”

Computed tomography of pulmonary sarcoid-like granulomas induced by complete Freund's adjuvant in rats

“…Less data are available concerning the use of lung CT in smaller animals, for which spatial and contrast resolution are limited. Lung CT, however, has been performed in rats for the evaluation of radiation-induced lung injury, but only lung density was considered, and radiological patterns were not precisely described [12,18,19]. In the present study, it was demonstrated that dual-helical lung CT is efficient for the detection of pulmonary sarcoid-like granulomas in the rats injected with CFA.…”

“…Measurement of the mean lung density has previously been used to study radiation induced lung injury in rats [12,18,19]. This index, however, is relatively crude and results can be influenced by many factors, including the lung area scanned and the age of the animal [22].…”

“…Lung involvement was considered as patchy (score 1-3) or diffuse (score 4-6). The mean lung density was also determined as previously described [12]. Briefly, the entire right and left lungs were outlined separately and the average CT attenuation values were recorded for each region.…”