Abstract #1627

Can the Forced Oscillation Technique and a Computational Model of Respiratory System Mechanics Explain Asthma Ventilation Defects?

Megan Fennema¹, Sarah Svenningsen¹, Rachel Eddy¹, Del Leary², Geoffrey Maksym³, and Grace Parraga¹

¹Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, ²Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States, ³School of Biomedical Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

In patients with asthma, MRI has provided evidence of ventilation-defects and heterogeneity. The etiology of ventilation-heterogeneity is not well-understood, and neither is its relationship with clinically-relevant respiratory-system-impedance measurements. We evaluated the potential relationships between MRI ventilation-defects and respiratory-system-impedance measured in vivo using oscillometry and in silico using a computational airway-tree-model, in subjects clinically diagnosed with asthma. Both experiments suggested a significant relationship between MRI ventilation-defects and respiratory-system-reactance. In vivo experimental data presented here reinforced the validity of our computational airway-tree-model. MRI-derived ventilation-defects in asthmatics can be explained by lung impedance, specifically reactance, measured experimentally and using a computational model.

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