Background

Bronchiectasis is an irreversible dilatation of the airways caused by inflammation and infection. To diagnose bronchiectasis in clinical care and to use bronchiectasis as outcome parameter in clinical trials, a radiological definition with exact cut-off values along with image analysis methods to assess its severity are needed. The aim of this study was to review diagnostic criteria and quantification methods for bronchiectasis.

Methods

A systematic literature search was performed using Embase, Medline Ovid, Web of Science, Cochrane and Google Scholar. English written, clinical studies that included bronchiectasis as outcome measure and used image quantification methods were selected. Criteria for bronchiectasis, quantification methods, patient demographics, and data on image acquisition were extracted.

Results

We screened 4182 abstracts, selected 972 full texts, and included 122 studies. The most often used criterion for bronchiectasis was an inner airway-artery ratio ≥1.0 (42%), however no validation studies for this cut-off value were found. Importantly, studies showed that airway-artery ratios are influenced by age. To quantify bronchiectasis, 42 different scoring methods were described.

Conclusion

Different diagnostic criteria for bronchiectasis are being used, but no validation studies were found to support these criteria. To use bronchiectasis as outcome in future studies, validated and age-specific cut-off values are needed.

中文翻译：

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使用计算机断层扫描或磁共振成像对支气管扩张的诊断和定量：系统评价。

背景

支气管扩张是由炎症和感染引起的气道不可逆的扩张。为了在临床护理中诊断支气管扩张并在临床试验中使用支气管扩张作为结果参数，需要具有确切截止值的放射学定义以及评估其严重性的图像分析方法。这项研究的目的是审查支气管扩张的诊断标准和量化方法。

方法

使用Embase，Medline Ovid，Web of Science，Cochrane和Google Scholar进行了系统的文献检索。选择英语书面临床研究，其中包括支气管扩张作为预后评估和使用的图像定量方法。提取了支气管扩张的标准，量化方法，患者人口统计数据以及图像采集数据。

结果

我们筛选了4182篇摘要，选择了972篇全文，包括122篇研究。支气管扩张最常用的标准是气道内动脉比率≥1.0（42％），但是未发现有关该临界值的验证研究。重要的是，研究表明，气道动脉比率受年龄影响。为了量化支气管扩张，描述了42种不同的评分方法。

结论

目前正在使用不同的支气管扩张诊断标准，但未发现验证研究支持这些标准。为了在将来的研究中使用支气管扩张作为结果，需要经过验证的和特定年龄的临界值。