Curvilinearity provides additional information to lung clearance index only in a minority of children with early cystic fibrosis lung disease.

https://bit.ly/3p9QAV4.

A Short extension to multiple breath washout provides additional signal of distal airway disease in people with CF: A pilot study.

Background: Adding a slow vital capacity (SVC) to multiple breath washout (MBW) allows quantification of otherwise overlooked signal from under/un-ventilated lung units (UVLU) and may provide a more comprehensive assessment of airway disease than conventional lung clearance index (LCI).

Methods: We conducted a pilot study on people undergoing MBW tests: 10 healthy controls (HC) and 43 cystic fibrosis (CF) subjects performed an SVC after the standard end of test. We term the new outcome LCI with Short extension (LCI).

Paediatric severe asthma biologics service: from hospital to home.

Children with severe asthma may be treated with biologic agents normally requiring 2-4 weekly injections in hospital. In March 2020, due to COVID-19, we needed to minimise hospital visits. We assessed whether biologics could be given safely at home.

Nitrogen offset in N multiple washout method.

http://bit.ly/2ug0fAi.

Lung clearance index and steroid response in pediatric severe asthma.

Introduction: Lung clearance index (LCI) is a measure of airway disease that has been shown to be abnormal in asthma. We hypothesized that LCI would be higher (worse) in children with severe therapy-resistant asthma (STRA) compared with difficult asthma (DA) and healthy controls and that LCI would fall in response to parenteral steroids in STRA.

Methods: Sixty-four children with asthma who were prescribed high-dose asthma therapy (GINA steps 4 or 5) performed LCI and spirometry.

Simultaneous sulfur hexafluoride and nitrogen multiple-breath washout (MBW) to examine inherent differences in MBW outcomes.

Unlabelled: Multiple-breath washout (MBW) can be performed with different gases (sulfur hexafluoride (SF) and nitrogen (N)) and different devices, all of which give discrepant results. This study aimed to confirm previously reported differences and explore factors influencing discrepant results; equipment factors or the physical properties of gases used.

Methods: Healthy controls (HCs) and participants with cystic fibrosis (CF) completed MBW trials on two commercially available devices (Exhalyzer D (N) and Innocor (SF)).

Developments in multiple breath washout testing in children with cystic fibrosis.

Background: Lung clearance index (LCI) is becoming recognized as an important addition in the monitoring of pediatric cystic fibrosis (CF). The non-invasive technique is easy to perform in all ages, reproducible and increasingly being used in clinical trials. There is interest in utilizing it within the clinic setting but its current use is mostly as a research tool.

Feasibility of lung clearance index in a clinical setting in pre-school children.

Lung function testing in pre-school children in the clinical setting is challenging. Most cannot perform spirometry and many infant lung function tests require sedation. Lung clearance index (LCI) derived from the multiple-breath washout (MBW) test has been shown to be sensitive to early disease changes but may be time consuming and so a shortened test (LCI) may be more feasible in young children.

The reproducibility and responsiveness of the lung clearance index in bronchiectasis.

Lung clearance index (LCI) is a potential clinical outcome marker in bronchiectasis. Its responsiveness to therapeutic intervention has not been determined. This study evaluates its responsiveness to a session of physiotherapy and intravenous antibiotic treatment of an exacerbation.

Lung clearance index and high-resolution computed tomography scores in primary ciliary dyskinesia.

Rationale: Lung clearance index (LCI) is a more sensitive measure of lung function than spirometry in cystic fibrosis (CF) and correlates well with abnormalities in high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scanning. We hypothesized LCI would be equally sensitive to lung disease in primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD).

Objectives: To test the relationships between LCI, spirometry, and HRCT in PCD and to compare them to the established relationships in CF.

Increased airway smooth muscle in preschool wheezers who have asthma at school age.

Background: Increased airway smooth muscle (ASM) is a feature of established asthma in schoolchildren, but nothing is known about ASM in preschool wheezers.

Objective: We sought to determine endobronchial biopsy specimen ASM area fraction in preschool wheezers and its association with asthma at school age.

Methods: ASM area, reticular basement membrane thickness, and mucosal eosinophil and ASM mast cell values were quantified in endobronchial biopsy specimens previously obtained from preschool children undergoing clinically indicated bronchoscopy: severe recurrent wheezers (n=47; median age, 26 months) and nonwheezing control subjects (n=21; median age, 15 months).