TY - JOUR T1 - Pulmonary vascular pruning in smokers with bronchiectasis JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00044-2018 VL - 4 IS - 4 SP - 00044-2018 AU - Alejandro A. Diaz AU - Diego J. Maselli AU - Farbod Rahaghi AU - Carolyn E. Come AU - Andrew Yen AU - Erick S. Maclean AU - Yuka Okajima AU - Carlos H. Martinez AU - Tsuneo Yamashiro AU - David A. Lynch AU - Wei Wang AU - Gregory L. Kinney AU - George R. Washko AU - Raúl San José Estépar Y1 - 2018/10/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/4/4/00044-2018.abstract N2 - There are few studies looking at the pulmonary circulation in subjects with bronchiectasis. We aimed to evaluate the intraparenchymal pulmonary vascular structure, using noncontrast chest computed tomography (CT), and its clinical implications in smokers with radiographic bronchiectasis.Visual bronchiectasis scoring and quantitative assessment of the intraparenchymal pulmonary vasculature were performed on CT scans from 486 smokers. Clinical, lung function and 6-min walk test (6MWT) data were also collected. The ratio of blood vessel volume in vessels <5 mm2 in cross-section (BV5) to total blood vessel volume (TBV) was used as measure of vascular pruning, with lower values indicating more pruning. Whole-lung and lobar BV5/TBV values were determined, and regression analyses were used to assess the differences in BV5/TBV between subjects with and without bronchiectasis.155 (31.9%) smokers had bronchiectasis, which was, on average, mild in severity. Compared to subjects without bronchiectasis, those with lower-lobe bronchiectasis had greater vascular pruning in adjusted models. Among subjects with bronchiectasis, those with vascular pruning had lower forced expiratory volume in 1 s and 6MWT distance compared to those without vascular pruning.Smokers with mild radiographic bronchiectasis appear to have pruning of the distal pulmonary vasculature and this pruning is associated with measures of disease severity.Smokers with radiographic bronchiectasis have intraparenchymal pulmonary vascular pruning, which is associated with both lung function and exercise capacity impairment http://ow.ly/YCYm30mgV7z ER -