Standardized Airway Wall Thickness Pi10 from Routine CT Scans of COPD Patients As Imaging Biomarker for Disease Severity, Lung Function Decline, and Mortality

Background: Chest computed tomography (CT) is increasingly used for phenotyping and monitoring of patients with COPD. The aim of this work was to evaluate the association of Pi10 as a measure of standardized airway wall thickness on CT with exacerbations, mortality, and response to triple therapy.

Methods: Patients of GOLD grades 1-4 of the COSYCONET cohort with prospective CT scans were included. Pi10 was automatically computed and analyzed for its relationship to COPD severity, comorbidities, lung function, respiratory therapy, and mortality over a 6-year period, using univariate and multivariate comparisons.

Results: We included  = 433 patients (61%male). Pi10 was dependent on both GOLD grades 1-4 ( = 0.009) and GOLD groups A-D ( = 0.008); it was particularly elevated in group D, and ROC analysis yielded a cut-off of 0.26 cm. Higher Pi10 was associated to lower FEV % predicted and higher RV/TLC, moreover the annual changes of lung function parameters ( < 0.05), as well as to an airway-dominated phenotype and a history of myocardial infarction ( = 0.001). These associations were confirmed in multivariate analyses. Pi10 was lower in patients receiving triple therapy, in particular in patients of GOLD groups C and D. Pi10 was also a significant predictor for mortality ( = 0.006), even after including multiple other predictors.

Conclusion: In summary, Pi10 was found to be predictive for the course of the disease in COPD, in particular mortality. The fact that Pi10 was lower in patients with severe COPD receiving triple therapy might hint toward additional effects of this functional therapy on airway remodeling.

Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT01245933.