PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Bethan Barker
AU  - Ruth Hartley
AU  - Karen Edwards
AU  - Maria Shelley
AU  - Sarah Parker
AU  - Mitesh Pancholi
AU  - Nisha Rana
AU  - Mini Pakkal
AU  - Sumit Gupta
AU  - Mona Bafadhel
AU  - Christopher Brightling
TI  - Associations between quantitative CT measures and airway inflammation in COPD
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P237
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P237.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P237.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Background: In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the associations between airway inflammation, bacterial load and CT determined proximal airway remodelling, small airway obliteration and emphysema are poorly understood.Methods: Within the COPD-MAP study, at stable visits COPD patients underwent pulmonary function tests, inspiratory/expiratory CT scans and sputum sampling. Sputum was analysed for bacterial load (colony forming units/ml [CFU]) and differential cell count (total cell count [TCC], neutrophil % and eosinophil %). The degree of proximal airway remodelling, small airway disease and emphysema were determined by percentage wall area (%WA) of the apical segment of the right upper lobe, mean lung density expiratory/inspiratory ratio (MLD E/I) and 15th percentile point (Perc15) of the lung density in Hounsfield units respectively.Results: 56 patients were recruited; 42(75%) were male with mean(SEM) age 69(1) years, FEV1% predicted 53(2)% and FEV1/FVC ratio 51(2)%. There were significant correlations between sputum neutrophil % and whole lung MLD E/I (rs=0.32, p=0.02) and lower lobe MLD E/I (rs=0.45, p=0.001), but not with upper lobe MLD E/I (rs=0.14, p=0.32). There were no significant correlations between sputum neutrophil% and %WA or perc15, and no significant correlations between sputum TCC, eosinophil% or CFU with CT parameters.Conclusion: A positive correlation between small airways disease and neutrophilic inflammation was identified. Whether neutrophilic inflammation is causally associated with small airway disease in COPD warrants further investigation.