A recent study conducted by Michigan university researchers claimed that the changes in the lungs were correlated with the flare ups of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The journal of Radiology made the study public.

For the study findings, they decided o tracked, 2500 COPD patients, who were registered in the NHLBI’s data and concluded that emphysema or large airway disease were correlated with a 1.18-fold enlargement in the exacerbation rate.

After conducting the study, they further urged that to identify two types of structural alterations in the lungs of COPD patients, when they used computer tomography (CT) technique, they found that in curing the problem, the new technique was more useful.

The whole issue came into limelight, when the scientists claimed that the old instrument, entitled as - spirometer, which measured the quantity of air in the lungs and how quickly it was inhaled out, failed to identify COPD.

Meanwhile, MeiLan K Han, the lead researcher, disagreed with the claims and quoted that to identify the COPD risks, CT was insufficient.

He added, "Two COPD patients may be identical in terms of lung function yet behave very differently. For instance, there are subsets of patients with severely reduced lung function who do not experience frequent exacerbations”.