Role of physical exercise in improving pulmonary function: a radiomic perspective (PhD Academy Award)

Abstract

The primary focus of my PhD research was to investigate the relationship between physical exercise and lung function, with a particular emphasis on imaging radiomic features derived from quantitative CT (qCT). My study aimed to uncover how different levels and intensities of physical exercise influence lung structural and functional parameters, as quantified by advanced radiomic analysis. Specifically, I evaluated the interplay between exercise-related parameters (eg, metabolic equivalent tasks, MET-min/week) and lung texture-based radiomic features, analysing their predictive value in chronic pulmonary disease progression and functional decline in lung capacity (figure 1). Figure 1 Design of the study. FEV1, forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC, forced vital capacity; GLCM, grey-level co-occurrence matrix; GLDM, grey-level dependence matrix; GLRLM, grey-level run length matrix; GLSZM, grey-level size zone matrix; MET, metabolic equivalent value; NGTDM, neighbourhood grey tone difference matrix; VO2, volume of oxygen. Radiomic features have been demonstrated to be powerful predictors of lung diseases and pulmonary function.1–3 At the same time, physical exercise is well …