Images in Clinical Medicine
Dynamic Airway Narrowing
N Engl J Med 2004; 350:1036March 4, 2004
- Article
A 61-year-old man who reported progressive exertional dyspnea of 12 years' duration received a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on the basis of a 150-pack-year history of smoking, emphysema on radiographic evaluation, and a forced expiratory volume in one second of 0.72 liter (28.8 percent of the predicted value). An upper thoracic high-speed electron-beam computed tomographic scan showed small airways (approximately 3 mm in diameter) that were open during inspiration (Panel A, arrows) but extremely narrow during expiration (Panel B, arrows). Dynamic narrowing of the airways is common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is caused by the loss of pulmonary elastic recoil, which would otherwise tether the airways open.
Hajime Kurosawa, M.D.
Masahiro Kohzuki, M.D.
Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8574, Japan- Citing Articles (3)
Citing Articles
1
O. M. Mets, P. A. Jong, B. Ginneken, H. A. Gietema, J. W. J. Lammers. (2011) Quantitative Computed Tomography in COPD: Possibilities and Limitations. Lung
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Kazutaka Mori, Toshihiro Shirai, Masashi Mikamo, Yuichiro Shishido, Takefumi Akita, Satoru Morita, Kazuhiro Asada, Masato Fujii, Takafumi Suda, Kingo Chida. (2011) Colored 3-Dimensional Analyses of Respiratory Resistance and Reactance in COPD and Asthma. COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease 8:6, 456-463
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Toshihiro Sera, Hideo Yokota, Kazuhiro Fujisaki, Kazuaki Fukasaku, Hiroyuki Tachibana, Kentaro Uesugi, Naoto Yagi, Ryutaro Himeno. (2008) Development of high-resolution 4D in vivo -CT for visualization of cardiac and respiratory deformations of small animals. Physics in Medicine and Biology 53:16, 4285-4301
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