Quantitative CT Analysis of Small Airway Remodeling in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease by a New Image Post-Processing System

PURPOSE: To explore a practical marker for quantitatively analyzing the small airway remodeling in COPD by HRCT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-four patients with COPD (GOLD I, n = 7; GOLD II, n = 8; GOLD III+IV, n = 9) and 14 healthy controls (7 normal pulmonary function; 7 small-airway disease (SAD)) were enrolled in the study as five groups, GOLD I, GOLD II, GOLD III+IV, normal and SAD. All subjects underwent HRCT and spirometry. With ISP 9.0, whole emphysema index (EI) and the airway parameters, including wall area (WA), lumen area (LA), airway area (AA) of the 3rd, 5th and 9th generations of bronchi, were measured successively. The ratio of LA/AA and WA/AA in the 3rd, 5th and 9th generations of bronchi were calculated and compared among groups. RESULTS: For the five groups, EI was increased only in GOLD III+IV group (P < 0.05), while the ratio of LA/AA (9-LA/AA) and WA/AA (9-WA/AA) in 9th generation of bronchi have significantly changed since SAD group (P < 0.05). There were significant correlation between FEV(1)generations of bronchi (r3 = 0.429, r5 = 0.583, r9 = 0.592, respectively, P < 0.05); FEV(1)% and WA/AA (r3 = –0.428, r5 = –0.532, r9 = –0.570, respectively, P < 0.05); as well as MMEF% and LA/AA (r3 = 0.421, r5 = 0.566, r9 = 0.610, respectively, P < 0.05); MMEF% and WA/AA (r3 = –0.421, r5 = –0.529, r9 = –0.593, respectively, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Small airway remodeling has occurred in the early stage of COPD, while emphysema in the late stage of COPD. The 9-LA/AA and 9-WA/AA are accurate and practical markers for small airway remodeling of COPD.