We use our own cookies and third parties ones to offer our services and collect statistical data. If you continue browsing the internet you accept them. More information

Accept
Research Project

Can Forced Oscillometry technique detect early airflow obstruction in severe AATD patients?

Principal Investigator:
Davide Piloni
Center:
IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo
City/Country:
Pavia (Italy)
Start date:
February 2025
Status:
Ongoing
Contact E-mail:
D.Piloni@smatteo.pv.it
<br /> <b>Warning</b>: Use of undefined constant _ALT - assumed '_ALT' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in <b>/home/earco0/www/ficha_proyectos.php</b> on line <b>170</b><br /> _ALT

Introduction

The detection of airflow obstruction is defined by the use of FEV1/FVC ratio <70% or <LLN.  It is known that this cut-off is not able to identify the early stages of obstructive pulmonary disease. We believe that early recognition of the patient at risk of developing significant airflow obstruction, especially in the case of patients with severe AAT deficiency, is of vital importance in defining the duration and type of follow-up, in terms of frequency and attention to overall patient management.

Forced oscillometry (FOT) is a pulmonary function test that measures the mechanical properties of the respiratory system. FOT provides valuable information about airway resistance and reactance and has been recognized as a valuable tool for detecting early signs of obstructive lung diseases, including conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), moreover is a very easy and confortable test for the patients, not requiring any respiratory effort.

Objectives

Description of FOT measurement in different severe AATD patients at different stage of the disease
Relationship of FOT measurement with all pulmonary function tests available in the EARCO database 

Inclusion criteria

Patients with severe deficiency, regardless of their genotype, will be recruited through participating EARCO centers.

Brief summary

The participating centers will have to enter the FOT data in the EARCO database, in a dedicated page, in particular R5 and R20 are mandatory for this study but also X5, Ax and Fres are important.

These data will be correlated with all functional parameters indicative of progression including post bronchodilator physiology (FEV1, gas transfer, lung volumes). 

FOT test will be performed at time of diagnosis and at every follow-up; it will be useful to have access to full lung function testing including gas transfer and lung volumes. The sample size for this project could be approx. 350 subjects with severe deficiency in the absence of established bronchial obstruction.