RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Obliterative bronchiolitis: varying presentations and clinicopathological correlation
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 20
OP 30
DO 10.1183/09031936.02.00282001
VO 19
IS 1
A1 K.D. Markopoulou
A1 C.D. Cool
A1 T.L. Elliot
A1 D.A. Lynch
A1 J.D. Newell, Jr
A1 V.A. Hale
A1 K.K. Brown
A1 M.I. Schwarz
A1 R.M. Tuder
YR 2002
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/19/1/20.abstract
AB In obliterative bronchiolitis, inflammation and fibrosis lead to narrowing or occlusion of bronchiolar lumina. To determine how bronchiolar structural alterations relate to lung physiology, 19 patients with a pathological diagnosis of obliterative bronchiolitis were studied. The bronchiolar inflammatory and fibrotic features were correlated to the clinical presentation, and lung function tests. Eleven patients demonstrated airflow limitation, one had a restrictive pattern and one had a mixed pattern, two had isolated gas trapping, but four had normal spirometry. Mild-to-moderate bronchiolar inflammation was invariably present. It involved 60% of bronchioles subepithelially and 54% in the adventitia. Subepithelial fibrosis was observed in 15 patients and adventitial in 12. Adventitial bronchiolar inflammation correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity and inversely correlated with residual volume. Subepithelial fibrosis inversely correlated with subepithelial and adventitial inflammation. High-resolution computed tomography in 10 patients revealed inspiratory (five out of 10) and expiratory air trapping (five out of five), ground glass opacities (seven out of 10), bronchial wall thickening (five out of 10), bronchiectasis (two out of 10) and centrilobular nodules (two out of 10). The present study suggests that inflammation and fibrosis occurs in bronchioles at different time points in the disease process, or that there is no transition between these types of pathology in the same patient. No correlation was observed between the degree of bronchiolar fibrosis and the degree of airflow limitation. This study was supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Specialized Center of Research Grant H1-27353.