Source: Annual Congress 2013 –Diagnosis and management of respiratory diseases
Disease area: Airway diseases

Abstract

Recently, high resolution CT (HRCT) has been used to indirectly assess airway remodeling in vivo, on the basis of findings such as airway wall thickening. Objectives:1) To assess airway wall thickness by HRCT in uncontrolled asthmatics, 2) to investigate the association between patients characteristics, disease severity and prognosis with airway wall thickness parameters before and after 5 years of follow-up. Subjects and methods:Fifty -two patients with asthma and 23 healthy controls were recruited in the study. We measured airway luminal area (Ai) corrected by body surface area (Ai/BSA), airway wall area (WA) corrected by body surface area (WA/BSA), the percentage of wall area (WA %), absolute wall thickness (T)/ BSA, and thickness to diameter ratio (TDR) by HRCT in 2007 and 2012. Spirometric tests were also performed. Results:In uncontrolled asthmatics, Ai/ BSA, WA/BSA, WA%, and T/BSA were all significantly greater than those in controlled and healthy control subjects. No significant difference in airway wall thickness parameters were found between controlled asthmatics and healthy controls. The degree of airway wall thickness increased after 5 years in: older patients, male gender, persistent smokers, irregular users of ICS, and anti- leukotreines and those with lower post- bronchodilator reversibility. Conclusions:Airway wall thickness can be reliably followed by HRCT in uncontrolled asthmatics to assess airway remodeling. Smoking, age, male gender, lack of adherence to anti inflammatory drugs and irreversibility of airflow obstruction may be important factors in determining the airway wall thickness and hence the prognosis in this group of patients.

Rating:

Share or cite this content

Citations should be made in the following way:
A. Mohamed-Hussein, S. Ahmed (Assiut, Egypt). Value of HRCT in assessment of airway wall thickness in uncontrolled asthmatic: Five years follow-up study. Eur Respir J 2013; 42: Suppl. 57, 4174

Member's Comments

No comment yet.

Related content which might interest you: Comparison of EBUS and HRCT in assessment of airway wall in asthma and COPD Source: International Congress 2016 – From microimaging to functional evaluation of the lung Year: 2016 Clinical outcomes in non-eosinophilic versus eosinophilic asthma after 12 months specialist management Source: International Congress 2015 – Non-exhaled biomarkers in the assessment of airways disease Year: 2015 Bronchoscopic evaluation of the lower airways in patients with persistent severe asthma Source: International Congress 2015 – Sedation and educational issues in bronchoscopy: basic bronchoscopic techniques Year: 2015 Characterisation of asthma patients with persistent airflow obstruction Source: International Congress 2016 – Clinical studies in asthma and immunology Year: 2016 Clinical-functional and inflammatory evolution after one year of tracking in patients with asthma according to induced sputum cellularity Source: International Congress 2015 – Immune mechanisms in the human lung Year: 2015 Accuracy of questionnaire with peak flow for diagnosis of airway obstruction and differentiating between asthma and COPD Source: International Congress 2015 – Respiratory disease management in primary care Year: 2015 Peculiarities of the hormonal status and the clinical course of bronchial asthma developed in the perimenopausal period Source: International Congress 2014 – Asthma or COPD: comorbid condition or a poorly understood single disease? Year: 2014 The influence of bronchial asthma as a comorbidity of COPD on the COPD assessment test (CAT) Source: International Congress 2014 – Asthma or COPD: comorbid condition or a poorly understood single disease? Year: 2014 Phenotypic characteristics of asthma with small airways involvement Source: International Congress 2016 – Notable abstracts on clinical problems related to asthma Year: 2016 Spirometric and structured light plethysmography derived measures of airflow obstruction in asthma Source: International Congress 2016 – Functional assessment of the airways Year: 2016 Asthma, asthma-related symptoms and obstructive pattern in Greece: Early results of the E.ME.NO study Source: International Congress 2016 – Prevalence of obstructive airway diseases, methods of diagnosis, and lung function testing Year: 2016 Endobronchial ultrasound in study of airway wall remodeling in COPD patients Source: International Congress 2014 – COPD exacerbations Year: 2014 COPD and the asthma-COPD-overlap-syndrome Source: International Congress 2014 – Asthma or COPD: comorbid condition or a poorly understood single disease? Year: 2014 An extensive function evaluation in severe asthma with airflow limitation Source: International Congress 2014 – Asthma: still a heterogeneous condition! Year: 2014 Airway remodelling in the U-BIOPRED severe asthma cohort Source: International Congress 2015 – Airway remodelling: recent developments Year: 2015 A scoring algorithm for predicting the presence of adult asthma Source: Annual Congress 2013 –Lung function tests to monitor airway diseases Year: 2013 Smoking in severe asthma Source: International Congress 2015 – Chronic airway disorders: miscellaneous aspects Year: 2015 A pilot study for markers which can reflect asthmatic activity before and after reduction of inhaled corticosteroids Source: Annual Congress 2013 –Assessment of airway inflammation by exhaled gases Year: 2013 Small airways obstruction is associated with long-term persistence of asthma (EGEA study) Source: International Congress 2015 – Respiratory health across the life course Year: 2015 Bronchodilators in school children with asthma and normal FEV1 Source: International Congress 2015 – Immune mechanisms in the human lung Year: 2015