Linear rheology as a potential monitoring tool for sputum in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Background: The rheological properties of sputum may influence lung function and become modified in disease.

Objective: This study aimed to correlate the viscoelastic properties of sputum with clinical data on the severity of disease in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: Sputum samples from COPD patients were investigated using rheology, simple mathematical modelling and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The samples were all collected from patients within two days of their admission to Prince Philip Hospital due to an exacerbation of their COPD. Oscillatory and creep rheological techniques were used to measure changes in viscoelastic properties at different frequencies over time.

Results: COPD sputum was observed to behave as a viscoelastic solid at all frequencies studied. Comparing the rheology of exacerbated COPD sputum with healthy sputum (not diagnosed with a respiratory disease) revealed significant differences in response to oscillatory shear and creep-recovery experiments, which highlights the potential clinical benefits of better understanding sputum viscoelasticity. A common power law model G(t)=G0(tτ0)-m was successfully fitted to experimental rheology data over the range of frequencies studied.

Conclusions: A comparison between clinical data and the power law index m obtained from rheology, suggested that an important possible future application of this parameter is as a potential biomarker for COPD severity.