Computed tomographic measurements of airway dimensions and emphysema in smokers. Correlation with lung function.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by the presence of airflow obstruction caused by emphysema or airway narrowing, or both. Low attenuation areas (LAA) on computed tomography (CT) have been shown to represent macroscopic or microscopic emphysema, or both. However CT has not been used to quantify the airway abnormalities in smokers with or without airflow obstruction. In this study, we used CT to evaluate both emphysema and airway wall thickening in 114 smokers. The CT measurements revealed that a decreased FEV(1) (%predicted) is associated with an increase of airway wall area and an increase of emphysema. Although both airway wall thickening and emphysema (LAA) correlated with measurements of lung function, stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the combination of airway and emphysema measurements improved the estimate of pulmonary function test abnormalities. We conclude that both CT measurements of airway dimensions and emphysema are useful and complementary in the evaluation of the lung of smokers.
Nakano
Y
Y
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Muro
S
S
Sakai
H
H
Hirai
T
T
Chin
K
K
Tsukino
M
M
Nishimura
K
K
Itoh
H
H
Paré
P D
PD
Hogg
J C
JC
Mishima
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000403:Airway Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed