New research could take your breath away.

A new method has recently been developed that has allowed the visualization of the lungs of asthma sufferers.

Asthma is a disease which affects the airways in our respiratory system that carry the air in and out of our lungs. During an asthmatic attack these airways become inflamed and contract, resulting in their narrowing and thus preventing air from passing through them.

 Lots of you reading this would have experienced what this can feel like – the  tightness in your chest? The coughing and wheezing? It’s something that sufferers always dread, and always has us clutching for our inhalers.  It affects millions of people around the world and there is currently no cure. However, the development of a new technology could give us a much clearer insight into this infliction.

This new method requires asthma sufferers to inhale the harmless gas helium-3, and then be scanned by an MRI machine. The helium-3 can be visualised by the MRI scan, with an image produced like the one below.

The coloured areas represent parts of the lung where air can easily permeate, with black areas indicating portions of the lung where air cannot reach. In healthy patients the whole of the lung can be visualised. However, in patients with asthma the amount of black on the scan is much higher, giving us a much clear image of which areas of the lung are most affected.

This method gives us much more information of asthma, and could one day help develop the long awaited cure for asthma.

What do you think about this research? Write below with your comments or questions, and sign up for email notifications of whenever I leave a post at the top right of this page.

Email – newsinscience@gmail.com with any questions or post suggestions.