Nasal symptomatology, obstruction, and paranasal sinus opacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Morphometric and volumetric evaluation of maxillary sinus in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using cone-beam CT

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of present study is to assess the maxillary sinuses patients with COPD morphometrically and volumetrically using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images and compared these findings according to in age and gender of control groups.

METHODS

CBCT images of 80 individuals that exist from 40 patients with COPD and 40 healthy individuals (6 females, 34 males) in the tomography archive were retrospectively analyzed. The volume and surface area of maxillary sinuses in COPD and control group were measured by semi-automatic segmentation method and obtained findings were statistically examinated according to age, gender.

RESULTS

The study was observed that there was no statistically significant difference between the right maxillary sinus area and the groups, but left maxillary sinus and total sinus area of COPD group were observed to be significantly lower than the control group (p < 0.05). Maxillary sinus volume was found to be statistically significantly lower in patients with COPD than in healthy controls (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

CBCT is a practical and effective imaging method for the evaluation of maxillary sinuses. It is thought that inflammatory diseases that cause sinonasal changes such as COPD may affect maxillary sinus sizes.

Upper airway symptoms associate with the eosinophilic phenotype of COPD

BACKGROUND

There is growing evidence that upper airway symptoms coexist with lower airway symptoms in COPD. Still, the prevalence and impact of upper airway disease on the nature and course of COPD remain unclear. We aimed to describe this in a cross-sectional study.

METHODS

We examined a cohort of COPD patients with pulmonary function tests, induced sputum, blood eosinophils, atopy tests and computed tomography (CT) of the paranasal sinuses. Lower airway symptoms were assessed using the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), and upper airway symptoms were assessed using the nasal subdomain of the 22-item Sino Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT22nasal). We recruited patients from five sites in Denmark and Sweden. We excluded patients with a history of asthma.

FINDINGS

In total, 180 patients (female 55%, age 67±8 years, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 %) 52.4±16.6, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage: A: 18%, B: 54%, C: 3%, D: 25%) were included in the study. Seventy-four patients (41%) reported high upper airway symptoms (UAS, defined as SNOT22nasal≥6) with a median score of 10 (IQR 8-13). Patients with high UAS reported higher CAT scores (17.4±7.5 versus 14.9±6.6, p<0.05) and displayed higher fractions of eosinophils in blood (median 3.0% (IQR 1.6-4.2%) versus 2.3% (IQR 1.4-3.1%), p<0.05) and in induced sputum (median 1.8% (IQR 0.3-7.1%) versus median 0.5% (IQR 0-1.7%), p<0.05). No differences in atopy, CT findings or exacerbation rates were observed.

CONCLUSION

COPD patients with upper airway disease showed increased evidence of eosinophilic disease and increased lower airway symptom burden.

Precision medicine in united airways disease: A "treatable traits" approach

United airways disease (UAD) is the concept that the upper and lower airways, which are anatomically and immunologically related, form a single organ. According to this concept, upper and lower airway diseases are frequently comorbid because they reflect manifestations of a single underlying disease at different sites of the respiratory tract. Allergic asthma-allergic rhinitis is the archetypal UAD, but emerging data indicate that UAD is a heterogeneous condition and consists of multiple phenotypes (observable clinical characteristics) and endotypes (pathobiologic mechanisms). The UAD paradigm also extends to myriad sinonasal diseases (eg, chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyps) and lower airway diseases (eg, bronchiectasis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Here, we review currently known phenoendotypes of UAD and propose a "treatable traits" approach for the classification and management of UAD, wherein pathophysiological mechanisms and factors contributing to disease are identified and targeted for treatment. Treatable traits in UAD can be analyzed according to a framework comprising airway inflammation (eosinophilic, neutrophilic), impaired airway mucosal defense (impaired mucociliary clearance, antibody deficiency), and exogenous cofactors (allergic sensitizers, tobacco smoke, microbes). Appreciation of treatable traits is necessary in advancing the effort to deliver precise treatments and achieve better outcomes in patients with UAD.

Measurements of nasal airflow and patency: a critical review with emphasis on the use of peak nasal inspiratory flow in daily practice

Objective measures can be used to assist the clinician to diagnose and treat nasal obstruction and also to quantify nasal obstruction in research. Objective measurements of nasal obstruction are as important as objective measurements of lung function. peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF), acoustic rhinometry (AR) and rhinomanometry (RM), with their specific peculiarity, assess different aspects of nasal obstruction. From the studies available in the literature, it seems that these methods roughly correlate with each other and that all of them can be alternatively utilized very well in research as well as in clinical practice. This review describes the various methods that can be used to measure nasal patency, airflow and resistance, mainly peak nasal inspiratory flow, rhinomanometry and acoustic rhinometry. PNIF has been demonstrated to be reproducible and as good an indication of objective nasal patency as formal rhinomanometry and has the advantage to be cheap, simple and suitable for serial measurements and for home use even in the paediatric population. PNIF normative data are available for children, adults and elderly subjects, and the availability of unilateral PNIF normal values allows evaluation of nasal sides separately. Just as in the lower airways, objective and subjective evaluation gives different information that together optimizes the diagnosis and the treatment of our patients. We argue that PNIF should be used regularly in every outpatient clinic that treats patients with nasal obstruction.