Many technological innovations for diagnosis and treatment are expected to reach the clinic following validation, such as video - assisted thoracic
surgery, sensitive imaging
techniques, use of tracer gases,
regenerative medicine (e.g. in lung transplantation), nanoparticle - based carriers of inhalational drugs or bioactive compounds, personalised medicine (especially for lung cancer), bronchoplasty, laser energy as a surgical tool, and metabolic imaging
techniques.