Abstract
Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are associated with accelerated loss of lung function and death. Identification of patients at risk for these events, particularly those requiring hospitalization, is of major importance. Severe pulmonary hypertension is an important complication of advanced COPD and predicts acute exacerbations, though pulmonary vascular abnormalities also occur early in the course of the disease. We hypothesized that a computed tomographic (CT) metric of pulmonary vascular disease (pulmonary artery enlargement, as determined by a ratio of the diameter of the pulmonary artery to the diameter of the aorta [PA:A ratio] of >1) would be associated with severe COPD exacerbations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 913-921 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | New England Journal of Medicine |
Volume | 367 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 6 Sept 2012 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Acute Disease
- Aged
- Aorta
- Aortography
- Female
- Humans
- Logistic Models
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Observation
- Pulmonary Artery
- Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
- Recurrence
- Risk Factors
- Smoking
- Tomography, X-Ray Computed