Training and Expertise
PD Dr. med. Katharina Abbasi Dezfouli studied medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich. After her graduation, she completed her residency in radiology at the University Hospital Munich. After receiving her “Habilitation” at the LMU (topic: “Die Wertigkeit der präklinischen,
gitterbasierten Dunkelfeld-Radiographie in der Diagnostik pulmonaler Pathologien“), she
moved to Heidelberg, where she has been working as a consultant radiologist at the Department
of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (UKHD). Since 2020 Dr. med Katharina Hellbach has been Associate Professor in Heidelberg and Principle Investigator at the German Center for Lung Research (DZL). Her scientific focus lies on novel approaches to lung imaging.
Honors and Awards
2017 | CPC-M (DZL München) Translational Program |
2009 + 2010 | “Studienaufenthalte für Abschlussarbeiten deutscher Studierender“, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) |
Memberships
Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)
European Society of Radiology (ESR)
European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI)
Deutsche Röntgengesellschaft (DRG)
Interstitial Lung Diseases
COVID-19 pneumonia
Dark-field and phase-contrast imaging
Platform imaging
1. Umkehrer S, Morrone C, Dinkel J, ... Hellbach K. A proof-of principal study using phase-contrast imaging for the detection of large airway pathologies after lung transplantation. Sci Rep 2020 Oct 28;10(1):18444. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-75185-4.
2. Hellbach K, Baehr A, De Marco F, et al. Depiction of pneumothoraces in a large animal model using x-ray dark-field radiography. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):2602. Published 2018 Feb 8. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20985-y
3. Hellbach K, Yaroshenko A, Willer K, et al. X-ray dark-field radiography facilitates the diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis in a mouse model. Sci Rep. 2017;7(1):340. Published 2017 Mar 23. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-00475-3
4. Hellbach K, Yaroshenko A, Willer K, et al. Facilitated Diagnosis of Pneumothoraces in Newborn Mice Using X-ray Dark-Field Radiography. Invest Radiol. 2016;51(10):597‐601. doi:10.1097/RLI.0000000000000285
5. Hellbach K, Yaroshenko A, Meinel FG, et al. In Vivo Dark-Field Radiography for Early Diagnosis and Staging of Pulmonary Emphysema. Invest Radiol. 2015;50(7):430‐435. doi:10.1097/RLI.000000000000014
Athanasios Giannakis | Assistant physician |
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Dorottya Moré | Assistant physician |
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David Lukas Mangold | Assistant physician |
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Berill Zsuzsanna Botos | Doctoral student |
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Lung Research - Projects
1. COVID-19 Pneumonia
In this broad-based research project, imaging techniques (X-ray, computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) are analysed for the diagnosis and clinical classification of pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 pneumonia). This is done in cooperation with other medical disciplines (internal medicine, pathology).
2. Darkfield and phase contrast imaging
This technique represents a new type of X-ray imaging. By introducing three gratings into the X-ray beam, dark-field and phase-contrast X-ray images can be generated in addition to the conventional transmission X-ray image, which is produced by attenuation of the X-ray beam as it passes through the object. This provides important additional information about the structure of the lung and the anatomy of the respiratory tract: In the phase contrast image, the edges within an object (for example at air-tissue boundaries) are strongly emphasised. As a result, the airways (trachea, bronchi) are clearly visible in the phase contrast image. The darkfield image visualises scattering of the X-ray beam passing through air-tissue interfaces. Due to the healthy lung´s alveolar microstructure, this scattering is very high, which means that even small changes in the alveolar structure (e.g. in pulmonary emphysema or fibrosis) lead to a visible signal drop in the dark field image. This project is a cooperation with Prof. Franz Pfeiffer from the physics department of the Technical University of Munich.
3. Interstitial lung diseases
Imaging-based quantification of fibrotic lung changes and its classification correlated with the clinical presentation of the patients (cooperation project with the Thoraxklinik).