Purpose: Airway remodeling may be responsible for irreversible airway obstruction in asthma, and a low post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio can be used as a noninvasive marker of airway remodeling. We investigated correlations between airway wall indices on computed tomography (CT) and various clinical indices, including post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio, in patients with asthma.
Methods: Volumetric CT was performed on 22 stable asthma patients who were taking inhaled corticosteroids. Airway dimensions were measured at four segmental bronchi using in-house software based on the full-width/half-maximum method. Parameters included luminal area, wall thickness (WT), wall thickness percentage (WT%), wall area percentage (WA%), bronchial-to-arterial diameter (BA) ratio on inspiration CT, airway collapsibility (AC), and air trapping index (ATI). Correlations were analyzed between CT parameters and clinical indices, including %FEV1, FEV1/FVC, FEF(25-75%), and post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio.
Results: Post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC showed significant correlations with WT%, WT, BA ratio, AC, and ATI (r=-0.503, -0.576, 0.454, 0.475, and -0.610, respectively). WT showed negative correlations with FEV1/FVC and FEF(25-75%) (r=-0.431 and -0.581), and WT% was negatively correlated with %FEV1, FEV1/FVC, and FEF(25-75%) (r=-0.434, -0.431, and -0.540, respectively). WA% showed correlations with FEF(25-75%) and body mass index (r=-0.459 and 0.453). The BA ratio was positively correlated with %FEV1 (r=0.459) and FEF(25-75%) (r=0.479). AC showed strong positive correlation with FEV1/FVC (r=0.592), and ATI showed negative correlations with FEV1/FVC (r=-0.534) and FEF(25-75%) (r=-0.591).
Conclusions: WT%, WT, BA ratio, and AC on inspiration and expiration CT are good indices for measuring airway remodeling defined by post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC in stable asthma patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids.
Keywords: Asthma; airway remodeling; postbronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio.