Use of Quantitative CT Imaging to Identify Bronchial Thermoplasty Responders.

Background: Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is a treatment for patients with poorly controlled, severe asthma. However, predictors of treatment response to BT are defined poorly.

Research Question: Do baseline radiographic and clinical characteristics exist that predict response to BT?

Study Design And Methods: We conducted a longitudinal prospective cohort study of participants with severe asthma receiving BT across eight academic medical centers.

Quantitative CT Characteristics of Cluster Phenotypes in the Severe Asthma Research Program Cohorts.

Background Clustering key clinical characteristics of participants in the Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP), a large, multicenter prospective observational study of patients with asthma and healthy controls, has led to the identification of novel asthma phenotypes. Purpose To determine whether quantitative CT (qCT) could help distinguish between clinical asthma phenotypes. Materials and Methods A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted with the use of qCT images (maximal bronchodilation at total lung capacity [TLC], or inspiration, and functional residual capacity [FRC], or expiration) from the cluster phenotypes of SARP participants (cluster 1: minimal disease; cluster 2: mild, reversible; cluster 3: obese asthma; cluster 4: severe, reversible; cluster 5: severe, irreversible) enrolled between September 2001 and December 2015.

A multicenter, community-based, mixed methods assessment of the acceptability of a triple drug regimen for elimination of lymphatic filariasis.

Background: Many countries will not reach elimination targets for lymphatic filariasis in 2020 using the two-drug treatment regimen (diethylcarbamazine citrate [DEC] and albendazole [DA]). A cluster-randomized, community-based safety study performed in Fiji, Haiti, India, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea tested the safety and efficacy of a new regimen of ivermectin, DEC and albendazole (IDA).

Methodology/principal Findings: To assess acceptability of IDA and DA, a mixed methods study was embedded within this community-based safety study.

Quantitative CT metrics are associated with longitudinal lung function decline and future asthma exacerbations: Results from SARP-3.

Background: Currently, there is limited knowledge regarding which imaging assessments of asthma are associated with accelerated longitudinal decline in lung function.

Objectives: We aimed to assess whether quantitative computed tomography (qCT) metrics are associated with longitudinal decline in lung function and morbidity in asthma.

Methods: We analyzed 205 qCT scans of adult patients with asthma and calculated baseline markers of airway remodeling, lung density, and pointwise regional change in lung volume (Jacobian measures) for each participant.

Single-Session Bronchial Thermoplasty Guided by Xe Magnetic Resonance Imaging. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Adverse events have limited the use of bronchial thermoplasty (BT) in severe asthma. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of using Xe magnetic resonance imaging (Xe MRI) to prioritize the most involved airways for guided BT. Thirty subjects with severe asthma were imaged with volumetric computed tomography and Xe MRI to quantitate segmental ventilation defects.

Lower levels of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in peripheral blood are associated with a diagnosis of asthma 6 yr after severe respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) play a crucial role in antiviral immunity and promoting Th1 polarization, possibly protecting against development of allergic disease. Examination of the relationship between peripheral blood plasmacytoid DC levels and manifestations of asthma and atopy early in life. We have isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 73 children (mean age +/- SD: 6.