A narrative review on lung injury: mechanisms, biomarkers, and monitoring

Abstract

Lung injury is closely associated with the heterogeneity, severity, mortality, and prognosis of various respiratory diseases. Effective monitoring of lung injury is crucial for the optimal management and improved outcomes of patients with lung diseases. This review describes acute and chronic respiratory diseases characterized by significant lung injury and current clinical tools for assessing lung health. Furthermore, we summarized the mechanisms of lung cell death observed in these diseases and highlighted recently identified biomarkers in the plasma indicative of injury to specific cell types and scaffold structure in the lung. Last, we propose an artificial intelligence-driven lung injury monitoring model to assess disease severity, and predict mortality and prognosis, aiming to achieve precision and personalized medicine.