Investigating the Relationship Between Proximal Computed Tomography Airway Tree Features and Small Airways Disease in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) results in remodeling of both the large and small airways. Computed tomography (CT) imaging allows quantification of morphometric features from the central airways to be measured directly from a single full-inspiration acquisition, and small airway disease (SAD) features indirectly by registering full-inspiration to full-expiration images, known as Disease Probability Measure (DPMfSAD). Our objective was to investigate the relationship between proximal CT airway tree features and DPMfSAD in COPD. A total of 470 subjects were evaluated with varying COPD severity. Total airway count (β = −0.017), average wall thickness (β = 0.068), angle (β = 0.037), centre line length (β = 0.016), and outer diameter tapering (β = 0.016) were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). Likelihood ratio test showed that the airway model was statistically (P < 0.05) different from a null model, indicating that the airway features provide additional information.