Eric Hoffman, Ph.D

Affiliations: Professor, Departments of Radiology, Physiology, and Biomedical Engineering Research
Area: Physiologic imaging

Dr. Eric A. Hoffman, Ph.D. is a Professor of Radiology, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Iowa. He is the director of the Physiological Imaging Laboratory in the Department of Radiology and the director of the Iowa Comprehensive Lung Imaging Center (I-Clic) at the University of Iowa. He received his Ph.D. in Physiology fromthe University of Minnesota/Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in 1981 and remained on staff at the Mayo Clinic where he was a member of the team which Developed the Dynamic Spatial Reconstructor (DSR), a one of a kind CT scanner which was able to gather up to 240 contiguous CT sections of the body every 1/60 second at the time that clinical CT scanners were first introduced to image single slices of the nonmoving brain

Dr. Hoffman’s work has always been driven by particular physiologic questions, & the software which has evolved from his laboratory has been maintainedwithin a well integrated package known as VIDA (Volumetric Image Display and Analysis) Imaging has always been a central tool of the laboratory, and early work included biplane X-ray video fluoroscopy to study regional lung strain as an index of pleural pressure, and the Dynamic Spatial Reconstructor (DSR to study cardiac and pulmonary mechanics and pulmonary ventilation. The laboratory demonstrated utility of volumetric CT in accurately determining lung volumes, cardiac chamber volumes, myocardial musclemass, and regional lung density. Throughout his career he has used advanced imaging methodologies to study basic respiratory physiology centered largely on mechanisms of ventilation and perfusion heterogeneity and regional lung mechanics. Dr. Hoffman’s recent work has lead himto a new hypothesis regarding the etiology of emphysema based upon novel functional imaging protocols he has developed using multidetector row CT. He has shown that the normal response of the lung whereby blood flow is shut off to regions which are poorly ventilating (hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction or HPV) is blocked in the presence of inflammation. Thus, when the lung is inflamed and alveoli are flooded, the lung blocks HPV and maintains blood flow so as to allow for resolution of the inflammatory event. The hypothesis being evaluated is that if one is missing the ability to shut off HPV in the face of inflammation and one smokes, then micro inflammatory events may set up a viscious cycle leading to emphysema and if getting blood flowto an inflamed region is important, thiswill bemade more difficult by working against gravitational forces to get blood flow the apex of the lung in the upright body posture thus explaining the prevalence of smoking related emphysema in the lung apices. In addition to persuing this hypothesis via the further advancement of CT imaging technologies, Dr. Hoffman and colleagues have recently arranged for Siemens Medical to re-design an MRI scanner which will alow for the study of the lung in upright humans.

Most recently, in addition to continuing basic physiologic research of the lung, he has begun to apply multidetector row spiral CT imaging methodology to objectively follow human lung pathology and pathophysiology with a particular emphasis on inflammatory lung diseases. Dr. Hoffman is currently the principal investigator on an NIH sponsored Biomedical Engineering Partnership Grant which is in its 7th year in which researchers at 7 institutions have joined to build a computer-based atlas/model of the normal human lung based upon all the parameters that can be assessed by high speed multi-slice spiral CT as well as newer methods of MRI scanning of the lung via use of 3-He hyperpolarized gas. Dr. Hoffman is PI on several additional NIH funded grants aimed at studying normal and pathophysiology of the lung via CT imaging and his laboratory serves as the image archive and analysis center for numerous NIH sponored multi-center studies. The software developed by Dr. Hoffman and colleagues is being commercialized by a start-up company, VIDA Diagnostics, housed in the Oakdale Incubator facility and new activities are moving toward the development of a multicenter trials organization focused upon managing multicenter trials where imaging of the lung is being used as a safety measure of primary outcome measure.