Assessing therapy efficiency in asthma: A new designed multimedia system

Ranking among the most common chronic conditions in the world, asthma is associated with airway hyperreactivity and wall thickening leading to pulmonary functional obstruction. The developing therapies aim at reversing the induced airway remodeling and restoring the respiratory function. In this framework, evaluating the efficiency of such therapeutic protocols becomes of major clinical interest. This paper develops a clinical multimedia system, providing the appropriate tools for bronchial reactivity and wall remodeling evaluation from MDCT successive examinations conditional to a treatment. Relying on the 3D reconstruction of the bronchial tree, central axis analysis, and accurate quantification tools, such a system makes it possible to estimate the impact of a therapeutic protocol in mild and severe asthmatics, as demonstrated by a clinical study here discussed.