Detecting Lung Disease with Aerosolized Nanoparticles

MADELEINE PETERSSON SJÖGREN, Jonas Jakobsson, H. Laura Aaltonen, Amelia Grosso, Davide Piloni, Frederica Albicini, Erica Gini, Angelo G. Corsico, Per Wollmer, Jakob Löndahl, Lund University, Sweden

     Abstract Number: 185
     Working Group: Health-Related Aerosols

Abstract
Methods sensitive to detect changes in the peripheral lung, including enlarged airspace size due to emphysema, a major component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are lacking. Moreover, the global prevalence of COPD is increasing, and the disease is underdiagnosed. We hypothesize that we can derive peripheral lung airspace size from measurement of lung nanoparticle deposition. The method is called Airspace Dimension Assessment (AiDA) and the aim of this study was to compare AiDA measurements in subjects with and without COPD.

This study was a collaboration between the aerosol group at Lund University in Sweden and the Department of internal medicine and medical therapeutics at the University of Pavia in Italy. The study population was recruited in Sweden and Italy, including 34 subjects with COPD from tobacco smoking and 28 subjects with COPD due to Alpha-1-Antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). AATD is a genetic disorder that significantly increases the risk for developing emphysema, while COPD due to tobacco smoking cause both bronchial disease and emphysema. Data on healthy subjects were available from a national population-based Swedish cohort. Lung function was assessed with spirometry, diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide and AiDA. Computed tomography chest scans were made for all COPD subjects.

Average airspace sizes measured with AiDA were elevated for subjects with COPD, both from tobacco smoking (P<0.0001) and AATD (P<0.0001), but airspace size varied substantially between individuals. Mean airspace size was 375 ± 114 µm for subjects with COPD due to smoking, 322 ± 68 µm in subjects with AATD and COPD, and 280 ± 34 µm for healthy subjects. AiDA could differentiate between the AATD group and the healthy subjects, in contrast with other standard pulmonary function tests. These data support the hypothesis that AiDA measures distal airspaces and show that AiDA has the potential to increase phenotyping of lung disease.