The use of quantum dots in age-related lung diseases. Part 1: Diagnosis of lung diseases

Age-related lung diseases include COPD, lung cancer, infectious respiratory diseases, and pneumonia. People over 65 years of age have an increased risk of developing these pathologies and mortality from them. The low-symptomatic course of the diseases, as well as the complexity of differential diagnosis with a large number of concomitant pathology of the elderly, determines the complexity of developing methods for their early diagnosis with high sensitivity and selectivity. This review examines the use of quantum dots for the diagnosis of a number of age-related lung diseases. Detection limits, their biocompatibility and toxicity are discussed. The effectiveness of quantum dot-based systems for improving the diagnosis of lung diseases, including in the early stages, has been shown, which can lead to a significant reduction in mortality, especially relevant for elderly patients.