98%
921
2 minutes
20
Background: Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT) is an endoscopic treatment for severe asthma using radiofrequency energy to target airway remodeling including smooth muscle. The correlation of pulmonary function tests and BT response are largely unknown. Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT) is an effort-independent technique to assess respiratory resistance (Rrs) by using pressure oscillations including small airways.
Aim: To investigate the effect of BT on pulmonary function, assessed by spirometry, bodyplethysmography and FOT and explore associations between pulmonary function parameters and BT treatment response.
Methods: Severe asthma patients recruited to the TASMA trial were analyzed in this observational cohort study. Spirometry, bodyplethysmography and FOT measurements were performed before and 6 months after BT. Asthma questionnaires (AQLQ/ACQ-6) were used to assess treatment response.
Results: Twenty-four patients were analyzed. AQLQ and ACQ improved significantly 6 months after BT (AQLQ 4.15 (±0.96) to 4.90 (±1.14) and ACQ 2.64 (±0.60) to 2.11 (±1.04), p = 0.004 and p = 0.02 respectively). Pulmonary function parameters remained stable. Improvement in FEV correlated with AQLQ change (r = 0.45 p = 0.03). Lower respiratory resistance (Rrs) at baseline (both 5 Hz and 19 Hz) significantly correlated to AQLQ improvement (r = - 0.52 and r = - 0.53 respectively, p = 0.01 (both)). Borderline significant correlations with ACQ improvement were found (r = 0.30 p = 0.16 for 5 Hz and r = 0.41 p = 0.05 for 19 Hz).
Conclusion: Pulmonary function remained stable after BT. Improvement in FEV correlated with asthma questionnaires improvement including AQLQ. Lower FOT-measured respiratory resistance at baseline was associated with favorable BT response, which might reflect targeting of larger airways with BT.
Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02225392; Registered 26 August 2014.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7017531 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12931-020-1313-6 | DOI Listing |
Ann Am Thorac Soc
September 2025
University of Florida, Department of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, United States;
Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a systemic illness with increasingly subtle disease manifestations including sleep disruption. Patients with PH are at increased risk for disturbances in circadian biology, although to date there is no data on "morningness" or "eveningness" in pulmonary vascular disease.
Research Questions: Our group studied circadian rhythms in PH patients based upon chronotype analysis, to explore whether there is a link between circadian parameters and physiologic risk-stratifying factors to inform novel treatment strategies in patients with PH?
Study Design And Methods: We serially recruited participants from July 2022 to March 2024, administering in clinic the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ).
Neurology
October 2025
Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Background And Objectives: The relationship between insomnia and cognitive decline is poorly understood. We investigated associations between chronic insomnia, longitudinal cognitive outcomes, and brain health in older adults.
Methods: From the population-based Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, we identified cognitively unimpaired older adults with or without a diagnosis of chronic insomnia who underwent annual neuropsychological assessments (z-scored global cognitive scores and cognitive status) and had quantified serial imaging outcomes (amyloid-PET burden [centiloid] and white matter hyperintensities from MRI [WMH, % of intracranial volume]).
JCO Precis Oncol
September 2025
Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Purpose: mutations are classically seen in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), and EGFR-directed inhibitors have changed the therapeutic landscape in patients with -mutated NSCLC. The real-world prevalence of -mutated ovarian cancers has not been previously described. We aim to determine the prevalence of pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutations in ovarian cancer and describe a case of -mutated metastatic ovarian cancer with a durable response to osimertinib, an EGFR-directed targeted therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Respir Crit Care Med
September 2025
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States;
Background: Wildfires significantly affect air quality in the Western United States. Although prior research has linked wildfire smoke PM to respiratory health outcomes, these studies typically have limited geographic and temporal coverage, lacking evidence from multiple states over extended periods.
Methods: We obtained data on over 6 million emergency department (ED) visits for respiratory diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), upper respiratory infections (URI), and bronchitis, from five states in the Western US during 2007-2018.
Annu Rev Med
September 2025
3Department of Anatomy and Physiology, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Chronic cough can coexist with or without pulmonary and extrapulmonary conditions and can be refractory to therapies that improve these associated conditions. It is underlined by cough hypersensitivity, which is characterized by increased cough responses to stimuli that affect the airways and vagally innervated tissues as well as by excessive cough responses to innocuous stimuli, and it is caused by neuroinflammatory and neuropathic mechanisms at both peripheral and central levels. The management of chronic cough starts with exclusion of associated conditions, followed by use of neuromodulators and speech and language therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF