Lung texture analysis for measuring interstitial lung diseases

The technology described in this briefing is lung texture analysis, which includes the algorithm known as CALIPER (Computer-Aided Lung Informatics for Pathology Evaluation and Rating) in peer-reviewed publications. It is used for automated measurement of interstitial lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other fibrotic conditions.

The innovative aspect is that lung texture analysis is a fully automated way of processing images, running analyses and returning the output without clinician involvement.

The intended place in therapy would be in addition to current standard care in people with suspected interstitial lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or other fibrotic conditions.

The main points from the evidence summarised in this briefing are from 3 cohort studies including a total of 300 patients diagnosed with interstitial lung diseases and 1 validation study including 119 patients. They show that lung texture analysis could be an effective addition to standard care in assessing interstitial lung disease.

Key uncertainties around the evidence or technology are that there are no randomised controlled trials in the evidence base; the available studies are mainly retrospective cohort studies. Also, most studies that have been done within a UK context used the same patient dataset.

The cost of Imbio CT lung texture analysis is £40 per analysis (excluding VAT). Unlimited use annual subscriptions are available at a cost of £20,000 per year per site (excluding VAT). This would be in addition to standard care.