Michigan Medicine News Break

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory disease of the small airways in the lungs, affects 16 million Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Physicians would like to identify the disease in its earliest stages, when it is most treatable.In a landmark study funded by the NHLBI, an international team of researchers led by Michigan Medicine discovered that a noninvasive technique called parametric response mapping, or PRM, could identify the small airway damage common in early stages of COPD.For more information about this story visit: http://michmed.org/Ylq1R See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.