Featuring Chase Hall, MD and Chris Walker, MD

Originally Published Dec 2020

In this moderated dialogue between pulmonologist Chase Hall, MD and cardiothoracic radiologist Christopher Walker, MD, opportunities to enhance collaboration with clinicians are explored, particularly in regards to diffuse lung disease.  Dr. Hall provides his perspective on the use of imaging data today and the information he finds most meaningful from the radiology team.  Radiology attendees learned how to strengthen collaboration with their referring pulmonology partners.

As a care provider, whats is it like at Kansas University Medical Center right now in the battle against COVID-19?

“The real praise should go to the nursing staff, the cleaners and every one of the staff.  It’s really amazing what everyone is doing.”

Accelerated Fibrosis:
“We are seeing patients with architectural distortion, dilated bronchi over the course of 2 weeks.”

How is imaging being used with COVID-19 at Kansas University?

“We are increasingly using advanced imaging to guide treatment decisions for these (COVID-19) patients.”

“Imaging has increasingly played a more important role–not so much in diagnosis–but in managing the complications we see with these patients.”

Why is ILD so often misdiagnosed or delayed in its diagnosis?

“It’s not common.  It’s not what people are looking for. So, if it’s subtle, they are going to miss it.”

“When they do get that CT scan, how it’s read is pretty important on how the next steps are going to play out.  If the report states there is possible ILD, it is significantly more like to result in a referral to pulmonology.”  

Collaborative nature of ILD diagnosis

“The beauty of ILD diagnosis is that it’s really a strong collaboration among pulmonology, radiology, rheumatology, and pathology.”

There’s More!

See the complete webinar for much more, including:

• What specifically does Dr. Hall want to receive from Dr. Walker for ILD cases?
• Imaging examples of scarring vs. ILD
• What information would have the greatest impact from an AI solution for ILD patients?
• Q&A

See VIDA’s capabilities for analysis related to ILD, including

• Quantification of HAA% to flag cases of interest and possible ILD
• Texture analysis of ground glass/reticulation, consolidation, and honeycombing to aid in ILD diagnosis
• Subpleura View, an impactful visualization of the 1mm below the pleura

Chase S. Hall, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical center.  He specializes in Pulmonary and Critical Care and is the Associate Director of the ILD and Rare Lung Disease program at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Dr. Hall completed his internal medicine training at Washington University in St. Louis.  After residency he continued his training at Washington University where he completed a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care as well as completed a post-doctoral research fellowship that focused on quantitative pulmonary imaging.

Currently, Dr. Hall’s research is focused on developing and validating new imaging biomarkers using both quantitative CT imaging as well as hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI.

Christopher M. Walker, MD, specializes in cardiopulmonary imaging. Dr. Walker analyzes and interprets chest radiographs, CT scans, and MRI scans for cardiac and thoracic diseases and has an expertise in lung cancer, cardiopulmonary infections, aortic disorders, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary embolism, and a multitude of cardiac disorders.

Dr. Walker completed his diagnostic radiology training at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington followed by a fellowship in cardiothoracic radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is currently an associate professor of radiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

Dr. Walker has edited and authored 6 textbooks that focus on thoracic and cardiac imaging including the recently released 2^nd edition of Müller’s Imaging of the Chest. He has authored over 100 book chapters and more than 90 peer-reviewed articles and abstracts.

Dr. Walker also dedicates himself to educating medical students, residents and fellows, performing numerous one-on-one teaching sessions and mentoring younger physicians. His devotion to education has been recognized several times, including receiving the Radiological Society of North America Honored Educator Award in 2013, the resident advocate of the year award in 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 as well as the teacher of the year award in 2013/2014, 2015/2016 and 2019/2020.  He was also the recipient of several teaching awards during his residency training including the resident educator of the year award for medical student education, the resident/fellow award for outstanding educational leadership, and the resident peer educator of the year award.