# Lung Biomechanics and Disease Progression in SPIROMICS

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2021 · $513,856

## Abstract

Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a growing cause of morbidity and mortality around the
world in countries of all levels of economic prosperity. COPD is a complex disorder characterized by
permanent airway flow obstruction that interferes with normal respiration. Imaging-based biomarkers are
of increasing importance in our search to identify COPD phenotypes, establishing homogeneous
sub-populations to aid in genotyping, and directing therapeutic interventions and associated outcomes
assessment. Computed tomography (CT) imaging can describe the spatial distribution of disease,
measure the extent of emphysema and small airways disease in COPD, and detect concomitant disease,
such as asthma, fibrosis, and cardiovascular disease.
Some of the main obstacles in using CT imaging to study the lung are associated with achieving reliable
lung volumes (levels of inspiration) during scanning, variations in protocols across scans producing
changes in measured CT values, and inter-site and inter-manufacturer differences which reduce the
reproducibility of scanning in large multi-center trials. The use of CT is further limited by the current
practice of using CT density-based thresholds to define the location and extent of disease.
We hypothesize that further advances in our understanding of COPD are possible by complementing CT
density as the primary image-based indicator of disease with measurements of regional lung mechanics.
We propose to study the biomechanics of the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcomes in COPD Study
(SPIROMICS) cohort. We will look for differences in mechanical behavior across the SPIROMICS disease
strata, examine the impact of lobar anatomy and fissure integrity on lung mechanics and disease
distribution, and identify image-based biomarkers that are predictive of COPD progression by analyzing
the SPIROMICS data longitudinally.
When complete, this project will produce a database describing the biomechanics of the SPIROMICS
cohort, identify descriptive biomarkers of COPD for subject phenotyping, and create a disease progression
model based on lung biomechanics.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10179453
- **Project number:** 5R01HL142625-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** JOSEPH M REINHARDT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $513,856
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10179453

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10179453, Lung Biomechanics and Disease Progression in SPIROMICS (5R01HL142625-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10179453. Licensed CC0.

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