Investigate the underlying genetic factors of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). With a cohort of over 10,000 individuals, the COPDGene® Study is one of the largest studies to ever document the unique patterns of progression of COPD, its subtypes, and the epidemiologic, genetic and omic factors involved.

Answer why some smokers will develop COPD and others won’t. Characterize chest CT phenotypes in COPD subjects, including assessment of emphysema, gas trapping and airway wall thickening. Based on these phenotypes, the subtypes of COPD will be used to identify susceptibility genes. This understanding will further permit earlier diagnosis of the disease and lead to the development of treatments to modify progression.

Thirona is one of the research partners for the imaging arm of the study, providing AI-based quantitative CT scan analysis (emphysema quantification, airway measurements).

Our robust algorithms used in COPDGene have been able to differentiate between subcategories of emphysema, identify early evidence of fibrosis, automatically trace the bronchi and pulmonary arteries to assess for morphologic changes, accurately measure air trapping.

COPDGene is one of the largest studies to investigate the underlying genetic factors of COPD. It is a multicenter observational study that has enrolled more than 10,000 smokers with and without COPD across the GOLD stages. The study goal is to characterize smokers with and without COPD to perform epidemiological and genetic studies of these COPD-related phenotypes.