New York: A new technique that would help
identify smokers at maximum risk of emphysema has been
developed by American scientists.
"We have developed a new tool to detect early
emphysema-related changes that occur in smokers who are
susceptible to the disease," said lead author Eric Hoffman.
According to the researchers from University of Iowa, CT
scans measuring blood flow in the lungs can help detect early
emphysema-related changes.
They found that smokers who have very subtle signs of
emphysema, but still have normal lung function, have very
different blood flow patterns in their lungs compared to
non-smokers and smokers without signs of emphysema.
The scans detect differences in lung blood flow patterns
thus helping medics to identify smokers most susceptible to
emphysema much before the disease could damage the lungs,
according to the study that appeared in journal Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
"Our discovery may also help researchers understand the
underlying causes of this disease and help distinguish this
type of emphysema from other forms of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease," Hoffman said.
"This type of CT scan could even be a tool to test the
effectiveness of new therapies by looking at the changes in
lung blood flow," he said.
The team used multi-detector row CT imaging to measure
blood flow patterns in the lungs of 41 study participants --
17 non-smokers and 24 smokers.
All the participants had normal lung function, but 12 of
the smokers had very subtle signs of emphysema. Their CT scans
also had the most disrupted patterns of blood flow compared to
the other participants.
"Although the underlying causes of emphysema are not well
understood, smoking increases the risk of developing the
disease," Hoffman said.
"Our study suggests that some smokers have an abnormal
response to inflammation in their lungs; instead of sending
more blood to the inflamed areas to help repair the damage,
blood flow is turned off and the inflamed areas deteriorate."
The findings also support the idea that abnormal blood
flow occurs before emphysema develops.
PTI
