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The following is a summary of “Review of quantitative and functional lung imaging evidence of vaping-related lung injury,” published in the January 2024 issue of Pulmonology by Hofmann et al. 

The rise in e-cigarette uses and vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI) in 2019 highlighted the need for pulmonary functional imaging to assess the acute and chronic effects of vaping.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess imaging studies detailing acute and chronic findings related to vaping-induced lung structure-function abnormalities.  

They reviewed on June 13th, 2023, searching PubMed for relevant manuscripts using the criteria: [(“Vaping” OR “e-cigarette” OR “EVALI”) AND (“MRI” OR “CT” OR “Imaging”)]. Studies were included if they involved human participants, vaping/e-cigarette use, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), or positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.  

The results showed that the search yielded 445 manuscripts, of which 110 (668 unique participants) included MRI, PET, or CT imaging of e-cigarette users, of these, 105 focused on CT (626 participants), 3 on MRI (23 participants), and 2 on PET (20 participants). Most studies were from North America (n=90), followed by Europe (n=15), Asia (n=4), and South America (n=1). Most publications were case studies (n=93), with a few larger retrospective or prospective studies (n=17). Key CT findings included ground-glass opacities, consolidations, and subpleural sparing, while MRI showed ventilation/perfusion abnormalities and PET indicated pulmonary inflammation.  

Investigators concluded the pulmonary structural and functional imaging abnormalities were prevalent in patients with EVALI and e-cigarette users, suggesting that functional MRI could aid in studying the pulmonary health effects of e-cigarette use. 

Source: frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2024.1285361/full