Publications by authors named "A Comellas"
Background: Respiratory function is impaired in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Automation of multi-volume CT-based measurements of different components of breathing-related airway deformations will help understand multi-pathway impairments in respiratory mechanics in COPD.
Purpose: To develop and evaluate multi-volume chest CT-based automated measurements of breathing-related radial and longitudinal expansion of individual airways between inspiratory and expiratory lung volumes.
Among tobacco-exposed persons with preserved spirometry (TEPS), we previously demonstrated that different lung volume indices, specifically elevated total lung capacity (TLC) versus elevated ratio of functional residual capacity-to-TLC (FRC/TLC), identify different lung disease characteristics in the COPDGene cohort. Determine differential disease characteristics and trajectories associated with the lung volume indices among TEPS in the SPIROMICS cohort. We categorized TEPS (n=814) by tertiles (low, intermediate, high) of TLC or residual volume-to-TLC (RV/TLC) derived from baseline CT images, and then examined clinical and spirometric disease trajectories in mutually exclusive categories of participants with high TLC without high RV/TLC ([TLC]) versus high RV/TLC without high TLC ([RV/TLC]).
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- COPD is commonly linked to tobacco use, but various occupational exposures like dust and air quality issues are also significant risk factors that are often overlooked.
- Historical exposures include both inorganic and organic dusts, while modern work environments raise new concerns such as indoor air quality and outdoor pollution from industries like ridesharing.
- More research is essential to understand the relationship between occupational hazards and COPD, focusing on precision medicine and improving workplace health initiatives.
Background: Sarcoidosis is a multi-system disease frequently affecting the lungs. It is thought to be mediated by gene-environment interaction; for example, epidemiological data show organic aerosol exposure increases risk of pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Research Question: Does exposure to bioaerosol associate with worse lung disease in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis?
Research Question: Using an observational, cohort study design, we measured residential exposure to fungal and bacterial cell wall material, β-(1,3)-D-glucan (BDG) and endotoxin, respectively, in healthy control subjects and those with pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Objective: We examine pathways of airway alteration due to wall thinning, narrowing, and obliteration in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using CT-derived airway metrics.
Methods: Ex-smokers (N = 649; age mean ± std: 69 ± 6 years; 52% male) from the COPDGene Iowa cohort (September 2013-July 2017) were studied. Total airway count (TAC), peripheral TAC beyond 7th generation (TACp), and airway wall thickness (WT) were computed from chest CT scans using previously validated automated methods.