PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sebastian Ahumada
AU  - Pablo Betancour
AU  - Mario Santamarina
AU  - Juan Pablo Huidobro
AU  - Monica Gutierrez
AU  - Manuel Barros
TI  - Prevalence of abnormal lung volumes, DLCO and chest HRCT in smokers with normal spirometry
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P418
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P418.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P418.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Smoking is the leading cause of COPD, but only some smokers acquired the disease. Diagnosis of COPD needs confirmation with spirometry, but it has been reported that lung and bronchial damage may be present before abnormalities in this test can be observed.The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of lung volumes (LV), DLCO and Chest HRCT (CT) abnormalities in smokers with normal spirometry.We did a retrospective analysis in outpatients routinely sent for pulmonary function tests, which were done between March 2010 and November 2011. Inclusion criteria: current/ex-smokers with normal spirometry and CT done within 6 months (m). Exclusion criteria: chronic respiratory disease or acute respiratory symptoms ≤6 m. Associations were analyzed with Fisher's exact test.We collected data from 50 subjects (24 M), 65±11 years old. They have smoked a median of 17 pack years (range 3 to 48); 33 were current smokers. Respiratory symptoms were present in 38 (26 had chronic cough, 8 chronic sputum, 17 dyspnoea). 48 patients have abnormalities in either LV, DLCO or CT. LV were normal in 33, showed air trapping (AT) in 14 and low residual volume in 3. DLCO was normal in 14 and abnormal in 36 (mild 27, moderate 7, severe 2); CT was normal in 10, showed emphysema (E) in 1, AT in 21 and both E and AT in 18. We did not find any association between abnormalities in LV, DLCO and CT, neither between AT diagnosed by LV and CT (p=0.29).We found in this group of smokers with normal spirometry a high prevalence of DLCO abnormalities and AT measured by LV and CT. Although none of these subjects meet criteria for COPD as currently defined, damage to airways and/or lung parenchyma was present in most of them.