Small Airways in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: COMPARISON OF MORPHOLOGIC AND PHYSIOLOGIC OBSERVATIONS

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Abstract

18 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis were studied to determine if they had morphologic evidence of small airways disease and if physiologic testing could predict morphologic findings. In the presence of normal airway function by standard physiologic studies (forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity and airway resistance by plethysmography), dynamic compliance, maximum expiratory flow-volume curves, and maximum flowstatic recoil curves were measured to detect physiologic alterations consistent with small airways abnormalities. These physiologic data were then compared with estimates of small airways diameter made in lung biopsy specimens.

Authors

Jack D. Fulmer, William C. Roberts, Edwyna R. von Gal, Ronald G. Crystal