Regional lung deflation with increased airway volume underlies the functional response to bronchodilators in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Bronchodilators, including long‐acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs), improve airflow limitation and lung hyperinflation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). While bronchodilators increase airway caliber and deflate the lungs, little is known about the effects of the local interaction between airway dilation and lung deflation on functional improvements resulting from bronchodilator therapy. This study aimed to explore whether lung deflation with increased airway volume in the upper and lower lung regions would produce different physiological responses to LAMA therapy. Using the clinical data of 41 patients with COPD who underwent spirometry and inspiratory computed tomography (CT) before and 1 year after LAMA treatment, we measured the 1‐year change in the airway tree to lung volume percentage ratio (AWV%) for the right upper, middle, and lower lobes (RUL, RML, and RLL) and the left upper and lower lobes (LUL and LLL), and total airway count (TAC) identifiable on CT in relation to the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)). The results showed that LAMA treatment significantly increased the FEV(1) and AWV% of the RUL, RML, RLL, LUL, and LLL. Increased AWV% in the RLL and LLL, but not in the RUL and LUL, was correlated with increased FEV(1). In the multivariate analysis, the increased AWV% in the RLL was associated with the increased FEV(1) independent of the change in TAC in the RLL after treatment. This is the first study to show that the physiological improvements after bronchodilator treatment in COPD could be mainly due to the combination of regional deflation and increased airway volume of the lower lobes.