ReviewMedical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research2026
Imaging Markers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on Computed Tomography of the Lungs: a Narrative Review.
Review in Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous disorder in which spirometry reflects airflow limitation but incompletely captures the underlying structural injury. Patients with similar spirometric impairment may have markedly different patterns of emphysema, small-airway disease, and pulmonary vascular involvement. Computed tomography (CT) can visualize these abnormalities in vivo and may detect structural changes before overt airflow limitation develops. This narrative review examined whether CT-derived imaging markers provide clinically meaningful information beyond spirometry, particularly for phenotyping, early structural detection, prognostic enrichment, and selective clinical decision support. A focused narrative review of diverse publications in PubMed, published between January 2000 and April 2025, was conducted using COPD-related MeSH terms and free-text keywords. Across the reviewed literature, emphysema, quantified by low-attenuation area and emphysema index, and air-trapping measures showed consistent associations with expiratory volume measures and identified structural abnormalities in symptomatic smokers with preserved spirometry. Airway wall metrics such as wall area percentage distinguished airway-predominant phenotypes and were associated with airflow limitation and chronic bronchitis. CT vascular markers, including small-vessel cross-sectional area and the pulmonary artery-to-aorta ratio, reflected microvascular disease; a pulmonary artery enlargement to aorta ratio greater than 1 independently predicted severe exacerbations. Xenon CT and dual-energy CT added regional ventilation and perfusion information but remain investigational. CT imaging markers add complementary structural, phenotypic, and prognostic information beyond spirometry for established COPD and pre-COPD. Their most supported current role is phenotypic characterization and prognostic enrichment in selected clinical settings, whereas advanced functional CT techniques remain research tools. Routine CT for all patients is not supported by current Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.