PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sotirios Fouzas AU - Anne-Christianne Kentgens AU - Olga Lagiou AU - Bettina Sarah Frauchiger AU - Florian Wyler AU - Ilias Theodorakopoulos AU - Sophie Yammine AU - Philipp Latzin TI - Novel volumetric capnography indices measure ventilation inhomogeneity in cystic fibrosis AID - 10.1183/23120541.00440-2021 DP - 2022 Jan 01 TA - ERJ Open Research PG - 00440-2021 VI - 8 IP - 1 4099 - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/8/1/00440-2021.short 4100 - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/8/1/00440-2021.full SO - erjor2022 Jan 01; 8 AB - Background Volumetric capnography (VCap) is a simpler alternative to multiple-breath washout (MBW) to detect ventilation inhomogeneity in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, its diagnostic performance is influenced by breathing dynamics. We introduce two novel VCap indices, the capnographic inhomogeneity indices (CIIs), that may overcome this limitation and explore their diagnostic characteristics in a cohort of CF patients.Methods We analysed 320 N2-MBW trials from 50 CF patients and 65 controls (age 4–18 years) and calculated classical VCap indices, such as slope III (SIII) and the capnographic index (KPIv). We introduced novel CIIs based on a theoretical lung model and assessed their diagnostic performance compared to classical VCap indices and the lung clearance index (LCI).Results Both CIIs were significantly higher in CF patients compared with controls (mean±sd CII1 5.9±1.4% versus 5.1±1.0%, p=0.002; CII2 7.7±1.8% versus 6.8±1.4%, p=0.002) and presented strong correlation with LCI (CII1 r2=0.47 and CII2 r2=0.44 in CF patients). Classical VCap indices showed inferior discriminative ability (SIII 2.3±1.0%/L versus 1.9±0.7%/L, p=0.013; KPIv 3.9±1.3% versus 3.5±1.2%, p=0.071), while the correlation with LCI was weak (SIII r2=0.03; KPIv r2=0.08 in CF patients). CIIs showed lower intra-subject inter-trial variability, calculated as coefficient of variation for three and relative difference for two trials, than classical VCap indices, but higher than LCI (CII1 11.1±8.2% and CII2 11.0±8.0% versus SIII 16.3±13.5%; KPIv 15.9±12.8%; LCI 5.9%±4.2%).Conclusion CIIs detect ventilation inhomogeneity better than classical VCap indices and correlate well with LCI. However, further studies on their diagnostic performance and clinical utility are required.Novel volumetric capnography indices are promising markers of ventilation inhomogeneity in patients with cystic fibrosis https://bit.ly/32ngbS6