Pulmonary Predictors of Incident Diabetes in Smokers.

Background: Diabetes mellitus and its complications are a large and increasing burden for health care worldwide. Reduced pulmonary function has been observed in diabetes (both type 1 and type 2), and this reduction is thought to occur prior to diagnosis. Other measures of pulmonary health are associated with diabetes, including lower exercise tolerance, greater dyspnea, lower quality of life (as measured by the St.

Persistent and Newly Developed Chronic Bronchitis Are Associated with Worse Outcomes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Rationale: Chronic bronchitis is, by definition, a chronic condition, but the development and remission of this condition in cigarette smokers with or without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are poorly understood. Also, it is unclear how the persistence or new development of chronic bronchitis affects symptoms and outcomes.

Objectives: To ascertain the relationship between smoking status and the presence or absence of chronic bronchitis and the subsequent effects on symptoms and outcomes.

Automated quantitative 3D analysis of aorta size, morphology, and mural calcification distributions.

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to develop a fully automated pipeline to compute aorta morphology and calcification measures in large cohorts of CT scans that can be used to investigate the potential of these measures as imaging biomarkers of cardiovascular disease.

Methods: The first step of the automated pipeline is aorta segmentation. The algorithm the authors propose first detects an initial aorta boundary by exploiting cross-sectional circularity of aorta in axial slices and aortic arch in reformatted oblique slices.

Abdominal Visceral Adipose Tissue is Associated with Myocardial Infarction in Patients with COPD.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are frequent and a major cause of death in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In the general population, various fat depots including abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), and liver fat have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. We hypothesize that these adipose tissue compartments are associated with myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with COPD.

Cardiovascular disease is associated with COPD severity and reduced functional status and quality of life.

Introduction: Smoking is a major risk factor for both cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). More individuals with COPD die from CVD than respiratory causes and the risk of developing CVD appears to be independent of smoking burden. Although CVD is a common comorbid condition within COPD, the nature of its relationships to COPD affection status and severity, and functional status is not well understood.

Quantitative computed tomography measures of pectoralis muscle area and disease severity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A cross-sectional study.

Rationale: Muscle wasting in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a poor prognosis and is not readily assessed by measures of body mass index (BMI). BMI does not discriminate between relative proportions of adipose tissue and lean muscle and may be insensitive to early pathologic changes in body composition. Computed tomography (CT)-based assessments of the pectoralis muscles may provide insight into the clinical significance of skeletal muscles in smokers.

Pulmonary function reduction in diabetes with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: Diabetes damages major organ systems through disrupted glycemic control and increased inflammation. The effects of diabetes on the lung have been of interest for decades, but the modest reduction in pulmonary function and its nonprogressive nature have limited its investigation. A recent systematic review found that diabetes was associated with reductions in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide of the lung and increased FEV1/FVC.

Computed tomographic measures of pulmonary vascular morphology in smokers and their clinical implications.

Rationale: Angiographic investigation suggests that pulmonary vascular remodeling in smokers is characterized by distal pruning of the blood vessels.

Objectives: Using volumetric computed tomography scans of the chest we sought to quantitatively evaluate this process and assess its clinical associations.

Methods: Pulmonary vessels were automatically identified, segmented, and measured.

Racial differences in CT phenotypes in COPD.

Background: Whether African Americans (AA) are more susceptible to COPD than non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) and whether racial differences in disease phenotype exist is controversial. The objective is to determine racial differences in the extent of emphysema and airway remodeling in COPD.

Methods: First, 2,500 subjects enrolled in the COPDGene study were used to evaluate racial differences in quantitative CT (QCT) parameters of% emphysema, air trapping and airway wall thickness.

Coronary artery and thoracic calcium on noncontrast thoracic CT scans: comparison of ungated and gated examinations in patients from the COPD Gene cohort.

Objective: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) and thoracic aortic calcification, (TAC) are frequently detected on ungated multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) performed for lung evaluations. We sought to evaluate concordance of CAC and TAC scores on ungated (thoracic) and electrocardiogaphically (ECG)-gated (cardiac) MDCT scans.

Methods: Fifty patients, enrolled in the Genetic Epidemiology of COPD study (COPDGene), were recruited to undergo gated CAC scans with 64-detector row CT, in addition to the ungated thoracic studies already being obtained as part of their study evaluation.