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Introduction

Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, Missouri

Almost two years ago, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) launched a new journal, the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society (PATS). The intent of this publication was (and is) to publish and summarize the proceedings of various scientific meetings and symposia that were held by pulmonary scientists and clinicians. In the November 2004 issue, Alan Leff, editor of PATS, solicited topics on "virtual symposia," that is, collections of articles covering a topic in detail in the absence of any actual physical meeting itself. "In some respects," he wrote, "virtual symposia are the best of both worlds. Although meetings of outstanding scientists are of great interest to those participating, only those attending really benefit. Virtual symposia allow us to select the best in the field at the lowest cost to bring the benefits of carefully formulated, peer-evaluated reviews of many aspects of a single topic to thousands of our readers."

Indeed. This current issue of PATS, "Clinical and Research Frontiers in Pulmonary Imaging," represents the second publication of these "virtual symposia." (Yes, Dr. Leff, some of us actually read your editorial!). As such, it brings together an international group of imaging pulmonary and engineering scientists that would have been virtually(!) impossible to bring together in any one physical venue.

There can be little doubt that the revolution which has developed in imaging in the past several years rivals the dramatic advances in "-omics" technologies that have otherwise captured so much attention. Imaging represents one of the core technologies of the National Institutes of Health's Roadmap for Medical Research as part of its "New Pathways to Discovery." Advances have taken place in instrumentation, in the development of new contrast agents, and in the software used to process and analyze the enormous information contained within the images. These improvements have been applied to applications in both the clinical and research settings, to humans, and to animals as small as 25-g mice (1).

The exquisite image quality that can now be achieved and used to study lung anatomy ("structural imaging") is well known to most pulmonary scientists and clinicians. And many are at least familiar with the use of imaging to study lung function (especially for such important processes as pulmonary ventilation and perfusion) (2). But imaging can also be used now to investigate biologic processes at the cellular and subcellular level ("molecular imaging"), presenting new and exciting opportunities to study lung inflammation, gene expression, and more in intact animals and humans (3). Combining these imaging capabilities ("multimodality imaging") only multiplies the possibilities.

All of these imaging developments, from technology to application, from mouse to (wo)man, are represented in the following "virtual symposium." My co-editor colleagues (Drs. Hoffman and van Beek) and I hope that you will find the articles to be both informative and thought-provoking. The best outcome would be to learn that new collaborations were stimulated by these presentations. Whether it be by electronic or more traditional means, any feedback to us or to the editors of PATS about the value of this effort would be greatly appreciated.

REFERENCES

1. Schuster DP, Kovacs A, Garbow J, Piwnica-Worms D. Recent advances in imaging the lungs of intact small animals. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2004;30:129–138.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Lipson DA, van Beek EJ, eds. Functional lung imaging. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis; 2005. Lung Biology in Health and Disease; vol 200.
3. Schuster DP, Blackwell TR, eds. Molecular imaging of the lungs. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis; 2005. Lung Biology in Health and Disease; vol 203.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Schuster, D. P. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Schuster, D. P.