Study Suggests Alternative Method May Diagnose, Explain Lung Disease in Veterans

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Frances Gavalis, 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron equipment manager, tosses unserviceable uniform items into a burn pit at Balad Air Base, Iraq, on March 10, 2008. Military uniform items turned in must be burned to ensure they cannot be used by opposing forces. U.S. Department of Defense, Public Domain

An alternative method of analyzing lung CT scans may offer a better way to explain and diagnose lung damage in military personnel, according to a new study.

Parametric Response Mapping (PRM), a form of computational analysis of images in high-resolution CT (HRCT) scans, was found to be effective in identifying and quantifying lung inflammation in military veterans, even when traditional lung capacity tests returned normal readings.