Assessment of bronchial wall thickness and lumen diameter in human adults using multi‐detector computed tomography: comparison with theoretical models

Abstract

A thickened bronchial wall is the morphological substratum of most diseases of the airway. Theoretical and clinical models of bronchial morphometry have so far focused on bronchial lumen diameter, and bronchial length and angles, mainly assessed from bronchial casts. However, these models do not provide information on bronchial wall thickness. This paper reports in vivo values of cross-sectional wall area, lumen area, wall thickness and lumen diameter in ten healthy subjects as assessed by multi-detector computed tomography. A validated dedicated software package was used to measure these morphometric parameters up to the 14th bronchial generation, with respect to Weibel's model of bronchial morphometry, and up to the 12th according to Boyden's classification. Measured lumen diameters and homothety ratios were compared with theoretical values obtained from previously published studies, and no difference was found when considering dichotomic division of the bronchial tree. Mean wall area, lumen area, wall thickness and lumen diameter were then provided according to bronchial generation order, and mean homothety ratios were computed for wall area, lumen area and wall thickness as well as equations giving the mean value of each parameter for a given bronchial generation with respect to its value in generation 0 (trachea). Multi-detector computed tomography measurements of bronchial morphometric parameters may help to improve our knowledge of bronchial anatomy in vivo , our understanding of the pathophysiology of bronchial diseases and the evaluation of pharmacological effects on the bronchial wall.

Wave intensity analysis in air-filled flexible vessels

“…The diameters, Young's modulus and wall thickness of our tubes (particularly RT and ST1) are comparable to the physiological data available in literature on human upper airways' morphology i.e. Weibel (1963) for diameters, Montaudon et al (2007) for wall thickness, Young's modulus (E) defined according to the content of cartilage and soft tissue of each airway generation (Habib et al, 1994;Lambert et al, 1991;Wiggs et al, 1990). These data were also considered in our earlier computational works; Clavica et al (2009Clavica et al ( , 2010.…”

Bronchial morphometry in smokers: comparison with healthy subjects by using 3D CT

“…All assessable bronchi were studied using Weibel's model [15,16], i.e., downward from trachea to distal generations. This model considers that the number of bronchi should be magnified by a factor of 2 at each bronchial generation.…”

In vivo and in vitro morphometry of the human trachea

“…Most of these have relied on plain radiographs (Breatnach et al, 1984;Fraser et al, 1988) with their inherent methodological problems such as variable magnification, rotation, inspiration, beam penetration, and intrinsic twodimensional nature. The small number of studies using computed tomography (CT) have focused on the growing trachea (Griscom, 1982;Griscom and Wohl, 1986), the angle of the tracheal bifurcation (Karabulut, 2005), or bronchial morphometry (Montaudon et al, 2007). The aim of this study was to document the morphometry of the adult trachea in vivo using high-resolution chest CT scans, supplementing the findings with data from cadaver specimens.…”