UC study focus: Faster, more accurate way to diagnose lung infections

Critically ill patients, however, such as those with infectious pneumonia and underlying conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), might not have time to spare, says Kotagiri.

“Our solution is to use imaging to identify what is causing the pneumatic episode,” within hours, to hasten a treatment plan, he says. 

An added benefit, he says, is that the contrast agent development process “doesn’t require elaborate processing or preparation time.” This is critical as development of contrast agents can be time-consuming and complicated. A simple and fast process is expected to reduce preparation time in a clinical laboratory and potentially enable adoption of the technology in a clinical setting.

With this study, in animal models, Kotagiri and colleagues will only be looking at bacterial and viral pneumonias in conjunction with COPD, but the imaging approach has the potential to apply to other types of infections such as fungal infections or conditions such as cystic fibrosis.  

Imaging the patient after treatment, Kotagiri says, could also identify whether the patient is responding to medications such as antibiotics. Imaging could also potentially aid in determining the right antibiotics to use, targeting the pathogens that were identified.

The collaborators on this project include experts in COPD and lung diseases: Francis McCormack, MD, a pulmonologist, and Michael Borchers, PhD, at the University of Cincinnati.  Changchun Xie, PhD, at the University of Cincinnati is the team’s biostatistician, and Suzanne Lapi, PhD, at the University of Alabama-Birmingham will provide the radiochemistry expertise to optimize contrast agent development. 

Featured image at top of Nalinikanth Kotagiri/Colleen KelleyUC Marketing + Brand