Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways; as such, anti-inflammatory drugs, for example inhaled corticosteroids, are now central to the treatment of asthma. Non-invasive techniques to quantify inflammation, such as sputum cytology, have not gained widespread acceptance. Furthermore, our understanding of the anatomy and localization of asthmatic inflammation is lacking. This project proposes to apply non-invasive imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) to these questions. Initial studies using [18F]fluoro-D glucose (FDG) and a high resolution PET scanner will correlate asthma severity to specific anatomic patterns of inflammation.
