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Published on: March 3, 2023
Asynchrony between left and right lungs in acute asthma
Zhen Wang1, Thaddeus Bartter, Brigitte M Baumann
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Third Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Summary
Asthma attacks show significant lung asynchrony, detectable by respiratory sound analysis. This asynchrony improves with treatment, offering new insights into asthma physiology.
Area of Science:
- Pulmonary Medicine
- Acoustic Analysis
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Asthma is characterized by airflow obstruction.
- Respiratory sound analysis offers insights into asthma physiology and its temporal changes.
- Investigating lung sound patterns can enhance understanding of asthma exacerbations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To utilize a computerized acoustic tool for evaluating respiratory sound patterns in asthma patients.
- To compare respiratory sound profiles of asthmatic patients during acute attacks and after improvement with healthy individuals.
- To identify acoustic markers indicative of asthma exacerbations.
Main Methods:
- Respiratory sound analysis was conducted on 22 symptomatic asthma patients and 15 healthy volunteers.
- Analysis included plotting vibration patterns throughout the respiratory cycle for both lungs separately.
- Patients were assessed during acute attacks and after clinical improvement.
Main Results:
- Significant asynchrony between right and left lung vibration energy peaks (VEPs) was observed in asthma exacerbations.
- The time interval between expiratory VEPs was markedly increased in symptomatic asthmatics compared to healthy controls.
- Asynchrony significantly decreased after clinical improvement, indicating a response to treatment.
Conclusions:
- Respiratory sound analysis revealed significant, previously unreported, inter-lung asynchrony during asthma exacerbations.
- This acoustic finding of asynchrony is directly correlated with asthma severity.
- The study demonstrates that inter-lung asynchrony diminishes with successful asthma treatment.
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