Computerized tomography in the assessment of diseases of the thorax: a critical review.

Many diseases of the chest wall, heart, mediastinum, pleura, and lungs can be successfully imaged by CT. Radiotherapy ports can be calculated and transcutaneous biopsies can be monitored. In future, it is conceivable that by studying the numerical data within these areas of diseased and healthy lung it may be possible to more closely correlate pulmonary function with radiographic images. It is hoped that lung volumes extravascular lung water, blood flow patterns, and many more physiological parameters may become open to elucidation by CT.