Clinical Research Directory

Xenon MRI to Evaluate Changes to Lung Function Following Bronchoscopic Treatment of Air Trapping in Emphysema

The objective of this study is to provide a regional, mechanistic characterization of pulmonary ventilation changes following treatment with the Apreo BREATHE System, using hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe MRI, in BREATHE-3 participants. BREATHE-Xe is designed to generate mechanistic signals regarding whether airway scaffolds reduce ventilation defects, improve gas exchange, and correlate with CT and spirometric/plethysmographic changes observed in BREATHE-3. Findings support mechanistic interpretation and future hypothesis generation.

Secondhand Smoke Respiratory Health Study

Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) is associated with diverse health effects in nonsmokers. Flight attendants (FA) who worked on commercial aircraft before the ban on tobacco smoking (exposed FAs) had high, long-term levels of occupational exposure to SHS and are a unique population for the study of long-term health effects of chronic exposure to SHS. In previous studies, we have shown that many never-smoking SHS-exposed FAs to have curvilinear flow-volume loops, decreased airflow at mid- and low-lung volumes, and static air trapping (elevated residual volume to total lung capacity ratio \[RV/TLC\]), abnormalities that are not diagnostic of overt Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), but do implicate the presence of an obstructive ventilatory defect, and are consistent with what has been recently described as preserved ratio impaired spirometry (PRISm). The main objective of the study is to determine the effect of a bronchodilator to counter the physiologic abnormalities that are observed in the population of never-smoking SHS-exposed FAs as both proof of concept of the presence of an obstructive lung disease and as a possible therapeutic option to counteract the adverse respiratory effects of chronic exposure to SHS.