Clinical research on the deposition of inhaled substances (e.g. inhaled medications, airborne contaminants, fumes) in the lungs necessitates anatomical models of the airways. Current conducting airway models lack three-dimensional (3D) reality as little information is available in the literature on the distribution of the airways in space. This is a limitation to the assessment or predictions of the particle deposition in relation to the subject's anatomy.Detailed information on the full topology and morphology of the airways is thus required to model the airway tree realistically. This paper presents the length, diameter, gravity, coronal and sagittal angles that together describe completely the airways in 3D space. The angle at which the airways branch out from their parent (branching angle) and the rotation angle between successive bifurcation planes are also included. These data are from the study of two sets of airways computed tomography (CT) images. One CT scan was performed on a human tracheobronchial tree cast and the other on a healthy male volunteer. The airways in the first nine generations of the cast and in the first six conducting generations of the volunteer were measured using a computer-based algorithm. The data contribute to the knowledge of the lung anatomy. In particular, the spatial structure of the airways is shown to be strongly defined by the central airways with clear angular lobar patterns. Such patterns tend to disappear with a mean gravity, coronal and sagittal angles of 90 ° in each generation higher than 13-15. The mean branching angle per generation appears independent of the lobe to which the airways belong. Non-planar geometry at bifurcation is observed with the mean ( ± SD) bifurcation plane rotation angle of 79 ± 41 ° ( n = 229). This angle appears constant over the generations studied. The data are useful for improving the 3D realism of the conducting airway structure modelling as well as for studying aerosol deposition, flow and biological significance of non-planar airway trees using analytical and computational flow dynamics modelling.

African Americans are overrepresented among reported coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and deaths. There are a multitude of factors that may explain the African American disparity in COVID-19 outcomes, including higher rates of comorbidities. While individual-level factors predictably contribute to disparate COVID-19 outcomes, systematic and structural factors have not yet been reported. It stands to reason that implicit biases may fuel the racial disparity in COVID-19 outcomes. To address this racial disparity, we must apply a health equity lens and disaggregate data explicitly for African Americans, as well as other populations at risk for biased treatment in the health-care system.

Cardiac myxomas are the most common benign primary cardiac tumour to present in adulthood. While most patients present with symptoms of cardiac obstruction, embolic phenomena or constitutional impairment, up to a fifth of patients remain asymptomatic and are incidentally diagnosed on imaging. Although echocardiography is usually the initial imaging modality used to evaluate these patients, cardiac MRI (CMR) has emerged over the past decade as the primary imaging modality in the assessment of patients with cardiac tumours. The superior tissue characterization capability of CMR means that it is able to determine the nature of some tumours pre-operatively and performs well in differentiating myxomas from thrombus. We present a pictorial review highlighting the key CMR features of myxomas and show how these lesions can be differentiated from thrombus and other cardiac masses.

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Microvascular obstruction (MVO) is usually seen in a proportion of patients with acute myocardial infarction following reperfusion therapy of an occluded coronary artery. It is characterized by damage and dysfunction of the myocardial microvasculature with a no-reflow phenomenon within the infarct zone. While MVO may be demonstrated via a number of different imaging modalities, cardiac MR (CMR) enables accurate identification of MVO and also permits assessment of infarct extent and overall left ventricular function during the same imaging examination. We present a pictorial review of the characteristic appearances of MVO on CMR and highlight the importance of this imaging diagnosis for patient outcome following acute myocardial infarction.