TY - JOUR T1 - The lower respiratory airway wall in children in health and disease JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00874-2020 SP - 00874-2020 AU - Michael Fayon AU - Fabien Beaufils Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2021/03/26/23120541.00874-2020.abstract N2 - Alone or in association with other lung or thorax component disorders, the airway wall (AWW) remains one of the most frequently-involved elements in pediatric lung diseases. A myriad of AWW disorders will present with similar symptomatology. It is thus important for the clinician to reappraise the normal development and structure of the AWW to better understand the underlying disease patterns. We herein provide an overview of the structure of the AWW and a description of its development from the fetal period to adulthood. We also detail the most common AWW changes observed in several acute and chronic respiratory disorders as well as after cigarette smoke or chronic pollution exposure. We then describe the relationship between the AWW structure and lung function. In addition we present the different methods to investigate the AWW structure from biopsies and histological analyses to the most recent non-invasive AW imaging techniques. The comprehension of the pathophysiological processes involved in an individual patient will lead to the judicious choice of non-specific or specific personalised treatments, in order to prevent irreversible AW damage.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: Dr. Fayon reports grants from Novaris, other from Vertex, outside the submitted work; and My team has benefited from a patient educational grant of 7000 euros from Novartis.Conflict of interest: Dr. Beaufils reports personal fees and non-financial support from AstraZeneca, outside the submitted work. ER -