NG Carroll, C Cooke and AL James
Department of Pulmonary Physiology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia.

The extent to which the bronchial vasculature contributes to airway wall thickening in large and small airways in patients with asthma is unknown. The aim of this study was to quantify the number and the area occupied by blood vessels in the airway submucosa of patients with and without asthma. We used the monoclonal antibody Factor VIII to measure the blood vessels between the airway basement membrane and the outer border of the smooth muscle. In large cartilaginous airways in patients with fatal asthma, the number and area of large blood vessels were increased and the number and area of small blood vessels were decreased, compared with that in patients with nonfatal asthma and control subjects. However, the total number of blood vessels and the total area occupied by blood vessels per square millimeter in the airway submucosa were similar in patients with fatal asthma or nonfatal asthma and in control subjects in all airway size groups. Blood vessels were distended to a mean value of 80% of their estimated maximal area. The increased number of larger vessels in patients with fatal asthma raises the possibility that vascular congestion associated with an acute severe asthma attack may distend blood vessels. The finding of similar numbers of blood vessels per square millimeter of submucosa in control subjects and in patients with asthma suggests that blood vessels increase in number in patients with asthma only in proportion to increased airway wall area. It is unlikely that submucosal vessels could act as capacitance vessels and significantly alter inner airway wall thickness.

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