CT Scans Used to Study Severe Asthma

A new study suggests that computed tomography (CT) scanning might be the best choice for monitoring progression of severe asthma as well as evaluating how it is responds to treatment.

CT scans are typically used to detect tumors, but this study points to their use in asthma. The investigators, led by University of Leicester (UK) researchers at Glenfield (Leicester, UK) Hospital presented their preliminary results from the study, which will be showcased at the University of Leicester's Festival of Postgraduate Research on June 24, 2010.

Dr. Sumit Gupta, a postgraduate student at the University of Leicester, along with his colleagues at the Institute for Lung Health (Leicester, UK) and radiology department at Glenfield Hospital, is investigating the use of CT scanning to assess structural changes in lungs and airways of patients with severe asthma.

Prof. Chris Brightling and Dr. James Entwisle are supervising this research, which is in part funded by The Wellcome Trust (London, UK). Their findings suggest that CT-derived measures of structural changes may potentially be used as a noninvasive marker in asthma to monitor disease progression and response to current and novel treatment.

Dr. Gupta said, "Asthma is a major health problem affecting 300 million people worldwide. Approximately half a million people in UK suffer from severe asthma and are, as a consequence, at increased risk of asthma attacks, hospitalization, and death, and often have severely impaired quality of life. Structural changes that occur in airways of asthmatic individuals remain difficult to quantify and monitor. Computed tomography scans have now emerged as a noninvasive research tool to assess these airway structural changes.”

Prof. Brightling, a Wellcome Trust senior clinical fellow and honorary consultant at the Institute for Lung Health, who is leading this study, remarked, "Currently, there is paucity of markers that can be used to monitor asthma progression, response to treatment, and to identify patients who will have recurrent asthma attacks and develop persistent airflow obstruction, features particularly relevant to severe asthma.”

Dr. Gupta and colleagues have demonstrated that CT assessed airway dimensions are associated with worsening of lung functions and airway inflammation. They also observed a reduction in the airway wall thickness along with reduction in asthma attacks among severe asthma patients whose airway inflammation was suppressed by novel therapy, targeting specific type of inflammation. CT scanning, therefore, may help in monitoring asthma progression and response to treatment.

Prof. Brightling added, "Ability to objectively quantify different structural changes in asthma using CT may assist in differentiating various disease subtypes and help deliver personalized healthcare.”

This research, therefore, according to the investigators, highlights the importance of CT scanning in severe asthma patients and its potential use as a noninvasive marker for monitoring of the disease.

Related Links:
University of Leicester
Institute for Lung Health