Diagnosis Of Pulmonary Disease Research Articles

Chinese expert consensus on the pathological diagnosis of interstitial lung disease with transbronchial lung cryobiopsy specimens

Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) is an applicable technique that can provide a histologic diagnosis of interstitial lung disease(ILD). The general sample size of TBLC is much smaller than that of surgical lung biopsy (SLB), which raises more concerns about the procedure's diagnostic accuracy. A guiding consensus and guidelines on the pathological procedure of ILD with TBLC are required to better guide pathologists in diagnostic practice. The Respiratory Pathology Working Group of the Respiratory Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and the Thoracic Diseases Group of the Pathological Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, jointly organized by experts, have worked together to discuss and formulated the consensus. The consensus is based on literature review, clinical practice, collection of clinical issues, and discussion during a series of meetings. Experts approved the final proposed consensus with more than 70% of votes in favor (Delphi). The consensus summarized the delivery requirements, quality evaluation and artificial phenomena of TBLC specimens. It also proposed the diagnostic principles and procedures, types of ILD corresponding to major pathological changes, and major corresponding differential diagnoses of TBLC specimens. Finally, the consensus formed 14 recommendations for clinical diagnosis and multidisciplinary discussion.The recommendations are addressed as follows.Recommendation 1: We suggest that the TBLC clinical manipulators should observe and measure the size of the specimen in time. The specimen size should be greater than 5 mm in diameter, and multiple pieces(3 to 5 pieces)are recommended.Recommendation 2: Pathologists should record the number of blocks of tissue submitted for examination and the volume, color, and texture of each specimen. Evaluation of the proportion of alveolar parenchyma/airway components under the microscope, analysis of the type and distribution of lesions will facilitate making diagnostic suggestions.Recommendation 3: The size of TBLC specimens is significantly smaller than SLB and may not show sufficient features of ILD or secondary changes. It is more necessary to combine the evaluation of clinical changes and lesion distribution assessed by HRCT for a comprehensive diagnosis.Recommendation 4: Common microscopic artefacts of TBLC specimen are mass of red blood cells, proteinaceous fluid and fibrin exudation. In the absence of hemosiderin cells or clinical signs of hemoptysis symptoms, the diagnosis of pulmonary hemorrhagic disease should be considered with caution.Recommendation 5: TBLC is not a suggested diagnosis when the pathological changes are mainly located in the pleural or subpleural lung tissues, e.g., pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis.Recommendation 6: The principle of pathological diagnosis of ILD in TBLC is consistent with SLB, with a description of the main pathological morphological change and a tendentious pathological diagnosis; if the lesion is not fully shown, only a pathological description is given.Recommendation 7: A well-sampled TBLC specimen may show patchy fibrosis and fibroblast foci in UIP, supporting a pathological diagnosis of a probable UIP pattern. TBLC may not display sufficient features of the distribution of subpleural and peripheral lung lesions in UIP, as well as secondary lesions.Recommendation 8: TBLC specimens show diffuse inflammation and fibrosis with well-preserved lung tissue structure, which may support a pathological diagnosis of NSIP; if the distribution of lesions and lung tissue structure are difficult to evaluate, it is recommended that a pathological diagnosis of fibrotic ILD or cellular ILD be made.Recommendation 9: TBLC specimens may show pathological features of NSIP accompanied by organization, but it is difficult to accurately evaluate the proportion of organization area. In this scenario, a descriptive diagnosis of NSIP accompanied by organization is suggested.Recommendation 10: It is recommended to diagnose organizing pneumonia if only distal airway organization is present in TBLC; in addition to organization, if pathological histology is accompanied by obvious interstitial fibrosis and lung tissue remodelling, granuloma formation, obvious neutrophil infiltration or accompanied with abscess formation, obvious eosinophil infiltration, tissue necrosis, hyaline membrane formation or vasculitis, secondary OP should be considered.Recommendation 11: It is recommended to diagnose acute fibrinous and organizing pneumonia (AFOP) if lesions on TBLC show features of organizing pneumonia and fibrin balls.Recommendation 12: A diagnosis of smoking-related ILD (RB-ILD or DIP) is suggested when a good sampling of TBLC shows a significant accumulation of histocytes or smoker's macrophages in the alveolar spaces, and without specific changes sufficient for other diagnoses. If the lesions are confined to the lumen of respiratory bronchioles and the immediate peribronchiolar airspaces, RB-ILD is supported; if the distribution is diffuse, DIP should be considered. If it is difficult to determine the distribution of the lesions, it is necessary to integrate clinical and chest CT imaging findings to differentiate RB-ILD from DIP.Recommendation 13: A well-sampled TBLC specimen can display the pathological features of DAD and then also support such a pathological diagnosis.Recommendation 14: Lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP) should show diffuse lymphocyte infiltration and lymphoid follicle formation in the lung interstitium in TBLC specimens. It is recommended that chest CT imaging be combined to determine whether the lesion is diffuse to differentiate from other lymphoproliferative diseases.

A nitroreductase responsive probe for early diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis disease

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a serious interstitial lung disease. However, the definitive diagnosis of IPF is impeded by the limited capabilities of current diagnostic methods, which may fail to capture the optimal timing for treatment. The main goal of this study is to determine the feasibility of a nitroreductase (NTR) responsive probe, 18F-NCRP, for early detection and deterioration monitoring of IPF. 18F-NCRP was obtained with high radiochemical purity (>95 %). BLM-injured mice were established by intratracheal instillation with bleomycin (BLM) and characterized through histological analysis. Longitudinal PET/CT imaging, biodistribution study and in vitro autoradiography were performed. The correlations between the uptake of 18F-NCRP and mean lung density (tested by CT), as well as histopathological characteristics were analyzed. In PET imaging study, 18F-NCRP exhibited promising efficacy in monitoring the progression of IPF, which was earlier than CT. The ratio of uptake in BLM-injured lung to control lung increased from 1.4-fold on D15 to 2.2-fold on D22. Biodistribution data showed a significant lung uptake of 18F-NCRP in BLM-injured mice. There was a strong positive correlation between the 18F-NCRP uptake in the BLM-injured lungs and the histopathological characteristics. Given that, 18F-NCRP PET imaging of NTR, a promising biomarker for investigating the underlying pathogenic mechanism of IPF, is attainable as well as desirable, which might lay the foundation for establishing an NTR-targeted imaging evaluation system of IPF.

Low smoking exposure and development and prognosis of COPD over four decades: A population-based cohort study.

A diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is mainly considered in individuals with more than 10 pack-years of smoking. We tested the hypothesis that low smoking exposure, below the critical threshold of 10 pack-years, increases risk of COPD and leads to poor prognosis.We followed non-obstructive adult smokers from the Copenhagen City Heart Study for COPD, defined as forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1]/forced vital capacity [FVC]<0.70 and FEV1<80% predicted, and for related clinical outcomes. First, we followed individuals for 5years according to baseline smoking for risk of developing COPD, and hereafter for up to four decades for severe exacerbations and death.In 6098 non-obstructive smokers, 1781(29%) developed COPD after 5 years follow-up; 23% in individuals with <10pack-years of smoking at baseline, 26% in those with 10-19.9pack-years, 30% in those with 20-39.9pack-years, and 39% in those with ≥40pack-years. During four decades follow-up, we recorded 620 exacerbations and 5573 deaths. Compared to individuals without COPD with <10pack-years of smoking, multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for exacerbations were 1.94(95% confidence interval:1.36-2.77) in those without COPD with ≥10pack-years, 2.83(1.72-4.66) in those with COPD with <10pack-years, 4.34(2.93-6.43) in COPD with 10-19.9pack-years, 4.39(2.98-6.47) in COPD with 20-39.9pack-years, and 4.98(3.11-7.97) in COPD with ≥40pack-years. Corresponding HRs for all-cause mortality were 1.20(1.10-1.32), 1.33(1.14-1.56), 1.59(1.40-1.80),1.81(1.62-2.03), and 1.81(1.55-2.10), respectively.Low smoking exposure below the critical threshold of 10 pack-years increases risk of COPD in middle-aged adults within 5 years, and these individuals have increased risk of severe exacerbation and early death over four decades.

PM2.5 and its components and respiratory disease healthcare encounters – Unanticipated increased exposure-response relationships in recent years after environmental policies

Prior studies reported excess rates (ERs) of cardiorespiratory events associated with short-term increases in PM2.5 concentrations, despite implementation of pollution-control policies. In 2017, Federal Tier 3 light-duty vehicle regulations began, and to-date there have been no assessments of population health effects of the policy. Using the NYS Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database, we obtained hospitalizations and ED visits with a principal diagnosis of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for residents living within 15 miles of six urban PM2.5 monitoring sites in NYS (2014–2019). We used a time-stratified case-crossover design and conditional logistic regression (adjusting for ambient temperature, relative humidity, and weekday) to estimate associations between PM2.5, POC (primary organic carbon), SOC (secondary organic carbon), and rates of respiratory disease hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits from 2014 to 2019. We evaluated demographic disparities in these relative rates and compared changes in ERs before (2014–2016) and after Tier 3 implementation (2017–2019). Each interquartile range increase in PM2.5 was associated with increased ERs of asthma or COPD hospitalizations and ED visits in the previous 7 days (ERs ranged from 1.1%–3.1%). Interquartile range increases in POC were associated with increased rates of asthma ED visits (lag days 0–6: ER = 2.1%, 95% CI = 0.7%, 3.6%). Unexpectedly, the ERs of asthma admission and ED visits associated with PM2.5, POC, and SOC were higher during 2017–2019 (after Tier 3) than 2014–2016 (before Tier-3). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease analyses showed similar patterns. Excess Rates were higher in children (<18 years; asthma) and seniors (≥65 years; COPD), and Black, Hispanic, and NYC residents. In summary, unanticipated increases in asthma and COPD ERs after Tier-3 implementation were observed, and demographic disparities in asthma/COPD and PM2.5, POC, and SOC associations were also observed. Future work should confirm findings and investigate triggering of respiratory events by source-specific PM.

Gender Differences in the Diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease after Spirometry.

Women are more likely than men to report delays in the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), though the etiology of these delays is unknown. We sought to test whether delays in COPD diagnosis persist after the performance of spirometry. We used the Optum Labs Data Warehouse to identify patients 18 years of age and older without a prior diagnosis of COPD, with a post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio of less than 0.7 on spirometry. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to compare the time to diagnosis after spirometry in men and women, adjusting for age, race, ethnicity, tobacco use, and post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC. The probability of receiving a COPD diagnosis after the performance of spirometry was lower among women than men (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.50 to 0.88). In this retrospective cohort study of patients with spirometric evidence of obstruction, the time to diagnosis of COPD was greater among women than men. While previous vignette-based studies have found that gender differences in the diagnosis of COPD resolve with the performance of spirometry, we found that gender differences persist after spirometry has been performed. Clinicians were less likely to diagnose COPD in women even when spirometry supported this diagnosis.

Continuous Monitoring of Heart Rate Variability and Respiration for the Remote Diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Prospective Observational Study.

Conventional daytime monitoring in a single day may be influenced by factors such as motion artifacts and emotions, and continuous monitoring of nighttime heart rate variability (HRV) and respiration to assist in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) diagnosis has not been reported yet. The aim of this study was to explore and compare the effects of continuously monitored HRV, heart rate (HR), and respiration during night sleep on the remote diagnosis of COPD. We recruited patients with different severities of COPD and healthy controls between January 2021 and November 2022. Vital signs such as HRV, HR, and respiration were recorded using noncontact bed sensors from 10 PM to 8 AM of the following day, and the recordings of each patient lasted for at least 30 days. We obtained statistical means of HRV, HR, and respiration over time periods of 7, 14, and 30 days by continuous monitoring. Additionally, the effects that the statistical means of HRV, HR, and respiration had on COPD diagnosis were evaluated at different times of recordings. In this study, 146 individuals were enrolled: 37 patients with COPD in the case group and 109 participants in the control group. The median number of continuous night-sleep monitoring days per person was 56.5 (IQR 32.0-113.0) days. Using the features regarding the statistical means of HRV, HR, and respiration over 1, 7, 14, and 30 days, binary logistic regression classification of COPD yielded an accuracy, Youden index, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.958, 0.904, and 0.989, respectively. The classification performance for COPD diagnosis was directionally proportional to the monitoring duration of vital signs at night. The importance of the features for diagnosis was determined by the statistical means of respiration, HRV, and HR, which followed the order of respiration > HRV > HR. Specifically, the statistical means of the duration of respiration rate faster than 21 times/min (RRF), high frequency band power of 0.15-0.40 Hz (HF), and respiration rate (RR) were identified as the top 3 most significant features for classification, corresponding to cutoff values of 0.1 minute, 1316.3 nU, and 16.3 times/min, respectively. Continuous monitoring of nocturnal vital signs has significant potential for the remote diagnosis of COPD. As the duration of night-sleep monitoring increased from 1 to 30 days, the statistical means of HRV, HR, and respiration showed a better reflection of an individual's health condition compared to monitoring the vital signs in a single day or night, and better was the classification performance for COPD diagnosis. Further, the statistical means of RRF, HF, and RR are crucial features for diagnosing COPD, demonstrating the importance of monitoring HRV and respiration during night sleep.

Detail-sensitive 3D-UNet for pulmonary airway segmentation from CT images.

The segmentation of airway from computed tomography (CT) images plays a vital role in pulmonary disease diagnosis, evaluation, surgical planning, and treatment. Nevertheless, it is still challenging for current methods to handle distal thin and low-contrast airways, leading to mis-segmentation issues. This paper proposes a detail-sensitive 3D-UNet (DS-3D-UNet) that incorporates two new modules into 3D-UNet to segment airways accurately from CT images. The feature recalibration module is designed to give more attention to the foreground airway features through a new attention mechanism. The detail extractor module aims to restore multi-scale detailed features by fusion of features at different levels. Extensive experiments were conducted on the ATM'22 challenge dataset composed of 300 CT scans with airway annotations to evaluate its performance. Quantitative comparisons prove that the proposed model achieves the best performance in terms of Dice similarity coefficient (92.6%) and Intersection over Union (86.3%), outperforming other state-of-the-art methods. Qualitative comparisons further exhibit the superior performance of our method in segmenting thin and confused distal bronchi. The proposed model could provide important references for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary diseases, holding promising prospects in the field of digital medicine. Codes are available at https://github.com/nighlevil/DS-3D-UNet/tree/master .

Clinical Significance of Long Non-Coding RNA SNHG5 in the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is preventable and requires early screening. The study aimed to examine the clinical values of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) SNHG5 in COPD diagnosis and prognosis. Out of 160 COPD patients, 80 were in the stable stage and 80 were in the acute exacerbation of COPD stage (AECOPD). SNHG5 expression was detected via qRT-PCR. The survival analysis was conducted using Cox regression analysis and K-M curve. SNHG5 levels significantly reduced in both stable COPD and AECOPD groups compared with the control group, with AECOPD group recording the lowest values. SNHG5 levels were negatively correlated with GOLD stage. Serum SNHG5 can differentiate stable COPD patients from healthy individuals (AUC = 0.805), and can screen AECOPD from stable ones (AUC = 0.910). SNHG5 negatively influenced the release of inflammatory cytokines. For AECOPD patients, those with severe cough and wheezing dyspnea symptoms exhibited the lowest values of SNUG5. Among the 80 AECOPD patients, 16 cases died in the one-year follow-up, all of whom had low levels of SNHG5. SNHG5 levels independently influenced survival outcomes, patients with low SNHG5 levels had a poor prognosis. Thus, lncRNA SNHG5, which is downregulated in patients with COPD (especially AECOPD), can potentially protect against AECOPD and serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for AECOPD.

Advances in early diagnosis of non-thromboembolic tumor related pulmonary vascular disease

Advances in early diagnosis of non-thromboembolic tumor related pulmonary vascular disease

Evaluation of alpha-defensins as a marker of severity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Defensins are key effector molecules of innate immunity that can contribute towards the diagnosis and monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present study was conducted to investigate the role of alpha-defensins in patients with COPD by quantifying serum and sputum samples. A total of 180 patients were enrolled and divided into four groups, and sputum and serum values of alpha-defensins were assessed. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of sputum alpha-defensin as a diagnostic biomarker were evaluated to assess its utility in diagnosing COPD. The mean value of sputum alpha-defensins was found to be statistically significant amongst the four groups (P < 0.001). The highest levels were found in subjects with AECOPD (385.76 ± 116.62 ng/mL). Sputum alpha-defensins were found to be negatively correlated with FEV 1 values (rho = -0.31, P < 0.001). Sputum alpha-defensins can be used as a potential marker for predicting acute exacerbation of COPD. In addition, they could serve as an indicator of disease severity in COPD patients.

Prevalence and risk factors for obstructive pulmonary dysfunction caused by silica dust exposure: a multicenter cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo understand the prevalence rate of obstructive pulmonary dysfunction in workers exposed to silica dust and analyze its risk factors, so as to provide reference for the formulation of diagnostic criteria for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused by occupational dust.MethodsData collection and structured questionnaire were used to collect the data of 2064 workers exposed to silica dust who underwent health examination in Hunan Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Hospital and Yuanling Second People’s Hospital from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. The prevalence rate of obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction was analyzed and the risk factors were analyzed.ResultsThe prevalence rate of obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction (FEV1/FVC < 70%) was 2.3% in 2064 silica dust exposed workers. The prevalence of restrictive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction (FVC/Pre < 80%) was 8.1%. The prevalence of obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction in the high level exposure group was higher than that in the low level exposure group, 8.2 vs0.9% (P < 0.05). The rate of obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction in female group was higher than that in male group (5.3% vs. 1.7%, p = 0.00). Workers with obstructive pulmonary dysfunction were older and worked longer than workers without obstructive pulmonary dysfunction, but there was no statistical difference. Multivariate regression analysis showed that high exposure level was a risk factor for obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction in silica dust exposed workers (P < 0.05). Females were the risk factors for obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction (P < 0.05).ConclusionSilica dust exposure can cause obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction and lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. High level of exposure is a risk factor for obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction. Women exposed to dust are more prone to obstructive pulmonary ventilation dysfunction than men. Early diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused by silica dust and timely intervention measures are very important to delay the decline of lung function and protect the health of workers.

Diagnosing and Treating Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in 2024 – What Is New?

The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) lays down guidelines and strategies for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Recently, the GOLD 2024 guidelines have been released. This brief report discusses the updates along with underlying evidence.

Performance of rapid on-site evaluation of touch imprints of bronchoscopic biopsies or lung tissue biopsies for the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary filamentous fungi infections in non-neutropenic patients.

The diagnosis of invasive pulmonary fungal disease depends on histopathology and mycological culture; there are few studies on touch imprints of bronchoscopic biopsies or lung tissue biopsies for the diagnosis of pulmonary filamentous fungi infections. The purpose of the present study was to explore the detection accuracy of rapid on-site evaluation of touch imprints of bronchoscopic biopsies or lung tissue biopsies for the filamentous fungi, and it aims to provide a basis for initiating antifungal therapy before obtaining microbiological evidence. We retrospectively analyzed the diagnosis and treatment of 44 non-neutropenic patients with invasive pulmonary filamentous fungi confirmed by glactomannan assay, histopathology, and culture from February 2017 to December 2023. The diagnostic positive rate and sensitivity of rapid on-site evaluation for these filamentous fungi identification, including diagnostic turnaround time, were calculated. Compared with the final diagnosis, the sensitivity of rapid on-site evaluation was 81.8%, and the sensitivity of histopathology, culture of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and glactomannan assay of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was 86.4%, 52.3%, and 68.2%, respectively. The average turnaround time of detecting filamentous fungi by rapid on-site evaluation was 0.17 ± 0.03 hours, which was significantly faster than histopathology, glactomannan assay, and mycological culture. A total of 29 (76.3%) patients received earlier antifungal therapy based on ROSE diagnosis and demonstrated clinical improvement. Rapid on-site evaluation showed good sensitivity and accuracy that can be comparable to histopathology in identification of pulmonary filamentous fungi. Importantly, it contributed to the triage of biopsies for further microbial culture or molecular detection based on the preliminary diagnosis, and the decision on early antifungal therapy before microbiological evidence is available.

A Clinical Bacterial Dataset for Deep Learning in Microbiological Rapid On-Site Evaluation

Microbiological Rapid On-Site Evaluation (M-ROSE) is based on smear staining and microscopic observation, providing critical references for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary infectious disease. Automatic identification of pathogens is the key to improving the quality and speed of M-ROSE. Recent advancements in deep learning have yielded numerous identification algorithms and datasets. However, most studies focus on artificially cultured bacteria and lack clinical data and algorithms. Therefore, we collected Gram-stained bacteria images from lower respiratory tract specimens of patients with lung infections in Chinese PLA General Hospital obtained by M-ROSE from 2018 to 2022 and desensitized images to produce 1705 images (4,912 × 3,684 pixels). A total of 4,833 cocci and 6,991 bacilli were manually labelled and differentiated into negative and positive. In addition, we applied the detection and segmentation networks for benchmark testing. Data and benchmark algorithms we provided that may benefit the study of automated bacterial identification in clinical specimens.

Cardio-pulmonary exercise testing aids chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnosis in the perioperative evaluation of patients undergoing radical cystectomy

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic lung condition distinguished by structural changes and mucus build-up which causes dyspnoea. COPD is universally diagnosed by a spirometry test. A Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1)/Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) of &lt;0.7, is often used to justify COPD diagnosis (Hopkinson et al., 2019, Brit Med J, 366, l4486). Reliance on spirometry tests alone may only highlight airway obstruction and not identify other consequences of COPD like impaired gas exchange which is implicated in the development of postoperative pulmonary complications. Cardio-pulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides a more detailed look into the pathophysiology of COPD and is routinely used in perioperative settings to determine a patient’s fitness for surgery. The aims of this study were to 1) identify the number of bladder cancer patients with undiagnosed COPD, and 2) compare COPD-related CPET variables between bladder cancer patients medically diagnosed with COPD (COPDMED) who had the potential to be diagnosed at the time of CPET (COPDCPET) and those without COPD (non-COPD). All testing was performed per the American Thoracic Society/American College of Chest Physicians guidelines (2003, Am J Resp Crit Care Med, 167, 211-277). COPD-related CPET variables recorded included Minute Ventilation (V̇E; L·min-1), Peak Oxygen Consumption (V̇O2peak; mL·kg-1·min-1), the Anaerobic Threshold (AT; mL·kg-1·min-1), Ventilatory Equivalence for Carbon Dioxide (V̇E/V̇CO2), Breathing Reserve (BR; %). Eighty-two patients with bladder cancer (COPDMED [n=9], non-COPD [n=73]) underwent preoperative spirometry and CPET. In the non-COPD patients, 21 (29%) had an FEV1/FVC&lt; 0.7, indicative of COPD and thus groups as COPDCPET. Within the COPDCPET group, 8 (40%) had an FEV1 between 50-70% of predicted which indicated moderate COPD. There was no difference found in all CPET variables measured between COPDMED and COPDCPET (P &gt; 0.05). When COPDMED and COPDCPET were combined and compared against the non-COPD, there was a difference found in their median (95% CI) V̇Erest (13.3 [12.3-14.2] vs 11.75 [11.2-12.6] L·min-1, P = 0.02, g = 0.28). V̇O2peak (14.95 [13.64-18.12] vs 17.16 [16.35-19.11] mL·kg-1·min-1, P = 0.049, g = 0.29). V̇E/V̇CO2 at the AT (38 [36-40] vs 36 [34-37], P = 0.04, g = 0.49). There was also a difference in mean +/- SD BR (36 +/- 17 % vs 47 +/- 14 %, P = 0.004, g = 0.69). This study demonstrates the underdiagnosis of COPD in perioperative settings. Future research should assess the use of targeted COPD optimisation preoperatively.

Curve-Modelling and Machine Learning for a Better COPD Diagnosis.

Development of new tools in artificial intelligence has an outstanding performance in the recognition of multidimensional patterns, which is why they have proven to be useful in the diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This was an observational analytical single-centre study in patients with spirometry performed in outpatient medical care. The segment that goes from the peak expiratory flow to the forced vital capacity was modelled with quadratic polynomials, the coefficients obtained were used to train and test neural networks in the task of classifying patients with COPD. A total of 695 patient records were included in the analysis. The COPD group was significantly older than the No COPD group. The pre-bronchodilator (Pre BD) and post-bronchodilator (Post BD) spirometric curves were modelled with a quadratic polynomial, and the coefficients obtained were used to feed three neural networks (Pre BD, Post BD and all coefficients). The best neural network was the one that used the post-bronchodilator coefficients, which has an input layer of 3 neurons and three hidden layers with sigmoid activation function and two neurons in the output layer with softmax activation function. This system had an accuracy of 92.9% accuracy, a sensitivity of 88.2% and a specificity of 94.3% when assessed using expert judgment as the reference test. It also showed better performance than the current gold standard, especially in specificity and negative predictive value. Artificial Neural Networks fed with coefficients obtained from quadratic and cubic polynomials have interesting potential of emulating the clinical diagnostic process and can become an important aid in primary care to help diagnose COPD in an early stage.

The Increased Burden of Morbidity Over the Life-Course Among Patients with COPD: A Register-Based Cohort Study in Sweden.

Patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often have other chronic disorders. This study aims to describe the life-course pattern of morbidity in patients with COPD. Among all residents aged 50-90 years in Sweden in 1997, people with a hospital COPD diagnosis were identified using Swedish national registers (1997-2018). Each patient with COPD was matched by sex, birthyear and county of residency with up to five COPD-free controls. Other chronic disease diagnoses were identified during 1987-2018. Conditional logistic regression calculated risk of diseases diagnosed prior to first COPD diagnosis, producing odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Cox regression estimated risk of diagnoses after first COPD diagnosis, producing hazard ratios (HR) and 95% CI. Among 2,706,814 individuals, 225,159 (8.3%) had COPD. The nested case-control sample included 223,945 COPD-cases with 1,062,731 controls. Prior to first COPD diagnosis, future COPD patients had higher risks than controls for most examined conditions. Highest risks were seen for chronic heart failure (OR = 3.25, 3.20-3.30), peripheral arterial disease (OR = 3.12, 3.06-3.18) and lung cancer (OR = 12.73, 12.12-13.37). Following the COPD diagnosis, individuals with COPD had higher risks of most conditions than individuals without COPD. Chronic heart failure (HR = 3.50, 3.46-3.53), osteoporosis (HR = 3.35, 3.30-3.42), depression (HR = 2.58, 2.53-2.64) and lung cancer (HR = 6.04, 5.90-6.18) predominated. The risk of vascular dementia was increased after COPD diagnosis (HR = 1.53, 1.48-1.58) but not Alzheimer's disease. Accumulation of chronic morbidity may precede COPD. Following the diagnosis, an increased burden of cardiovascular disease and cancer is to be expected, but subsequent depression, osteoporosis, and vascular dementia should also be noted. Management strategies for patients with COPD should consider the higher-than-average risk of multimorbidity.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Diagnosis with Bagging Ensemble Learning and ANN Classifiers

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Diagnosis with Bagging Ensemble Learning and ANN Classifiers

Inhaled corticosteroid treatment and pneumonia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – nationwide development from 1998 to 2018

ABSTRACT Background A decreasing use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in patients with a hospital-registered diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has recently been documented in Denmark. ICS treatment is not recommended in patients with high pneumonia risk, and we aimed to assess the development of ICS treatment in relation to pneumonia occurrence. Methods Annual nationwide register-based cross-sectional studies from 1998 to 2018 including all patients ≥40 years of age with a hospital-registered ICD-10 diagnosis of COPD on the 31st of December each year. We calculated the annual proportion of patients with at least one outpatient pneumonia (redeemed prescription of relevant antibiotics) or pneumonia hospitalization (hospitalization or ER visit), and stratified by ICS dose (No ICS, low dose, medium dose, or high dose). Results The study population increased from 35,656 patients in 1998 to 99,057 patients in 2018. The annual proportion of patients experiencing a pneumonia decreased from 69.4% to 55.2%. The proportion of patients with at least one outpatient pneumonia, but no hospitalization, decreased (59.2% to 46.2%). The overall proportion of patients with at least one pneumonia hospitalization remained unchanged (10.2% to 9.0%), but this proportion increased in patients in high dose ICS (9.9% to 14.6%). The overall proportion of patients in high dose treatment decreased (12.7% to 5.7%), but not in patients with pneumonia hospitalization (16.5% to 15.1). Conclusions Our study demonstrates a nationwide decrease from 1998 to 2018 in the proportion of patients who redeemed a prescription for antibiotics used mainly for respiratory tract infections, which may reflect a decrease in the number of outpatient pneumonias. This decrease was largely caused by an increase in the number of patients without pneumonia. No differences over time were seen regarding hospitalization-requiring pneumonia. High dose ICS treatment was unchanged in patients with hospitalization-requiring pneumonia.

Clinical guideline highlights for the hospitalist: GOLD COPD update 2024.

Guideline Title: Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (2024 Report) Release Date: December 4, 2023 Prior versions: Initial report was released in 2001 with major revisions in 2006, 2011, 2017, and 2023. This 2024 release is an update to the 2023 major revision Developer: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Funding source: GOLD Target population: Adults with a diagnosis of or at risk for COPD.