In vivo imaging of the airway wall in asthma: fibered confocal fluorescence microscopy in relation to histology and lung function

In vivo imaging of the airway wall in asthma: fibered confocal fluorescence microscopy in relation to histology and lung function

Respiratory Research, December 2011

21699692

Ching Yong Yick, Jan H von der Thüsen, Elisabeth H Bel, Peter J Sterk, Peter W Kunst

Airway remodelling is a feature of asthma including fragmentation of elastic fibres observed in the superficial elastin network of the airway wall. Fibered confocal fluorescence microscopy (FCFM) is a new and non-invasive imaging technique performed during bronchoscopy that may visualize elastic fibres, as shown by in vitro spectral analysis of elastin powder. We hypothesized that FCFM images capture in vivo elastic fibre patterns within the airway wall and that such patterns correspond with airway histology. We aimed to establish the concordance between the bronchial elastic fibre pattern in histology and FCFM. Second, we examined whether elastic fibre patterns in histology and FCFM were different between asthmatic subjects and healthy controls. Finally, the association between these patterns and lung function parameters was investigated.