Vibration Response Imaging in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Asthma

Obstructive lung disease is usually a differential diagnostic consideration when a patient presents with breathlessness or cough. Spirometry is the key diagnostic test used to confirm airflow obstruction particularly in the primary care setting. Airflow obstruction that completely resolves after administration of a bronchodilator, by definition, excludes a diagnosis of COPD. Evaluation of obstructive lung disease must include pulmonary function testing; bronchoreversibility testing is an adjunct in differentiating between asthma and COPD. Bronchoreversibility cannot serve as an absolute diagnostic criterion for separating asthma from COPD. Vibration response imaging (VRI) technology provides a simple, radiation-free method to image the lungs, by visualizing vibration energy (lung sounds) emitted during respiration cycle. In this study, regional quantitative and qualitative information on vibration response is compared with spirometry in assessing lungs function of COPD and Asthma patients.