Grant: CIHR-ICRH Travel Awards - General pool

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of death in Canada. Computed tomography (CT) can be used to detect structural changes, like emphysema, in the lung that may be undetected with standard clinical test. The extent of emphysema in the upper lobes has shown to be associated with lung function decline, however many CT features can be regionally quantified and it is unknown what features contribute most to lung function decline in COPD. Our objective is to compare upper lobe emphysema and numerous CT features from the upper lobes with machine learning for lung function decline in COPD.