A prospective study of spray cryotherapy in patients with COPD

Abstract

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to estimate the safety and efficacy of spray cryotherapy (SCT) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods We recruited patients aged 40–80 years with a confirmed diagnosis of COPD without serious complications (defined as two consecutive years of chronic cough and cough for at least 3 months with lung function forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1]/forced vital capacity [FVC] < 70% after inhaled bronchodilators and Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD] grade II–IV). The safety of this study was assessed by incidence of adverse events, and the efficacy was evaluated by St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), COPD assessment test (CAT), Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) and changes in exercise capacity, histomorphology and lung function. Results Eight patients eventually received three complete sessions of SCT, each lasting 41.10 ± 19.72 min. No adverse complications were recorded within 3 months after SCT. Clinically meaningful improvements in SGRQ, CAT, LCQ and exercise capacity were observed at 3 months after SCT: −15.75 ± 6.76 (95% confidence interval [CI] 10.10−21.40; p < .001), −6.88 ± 3.91 (95% CI 3.61−10.14; p = .002), −18.13 ± 13.81 (95% CI 6.58−29.67; p = .008) and 72.75 ± 33.11 (95% CI −100.43 to −45.07; p < .001), respectively. The density of airway epithelial goblet cells per unit area was significantly reduced (p < .05), and lung function parameters such as ∆FVC, ∆FEV1 and ∆ peak expiratory flow (∆PEF) were improved (p = .007, .021 and .012). Conclusions SCT is a safe and effective strategy to provide a better quality of life for COPD patients.

Keywords

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• efficacy
• prospective study
• safety
• spray cryotherapy