Correlation between asthma control and small airway dysfunction

Asthma has been considered a chronic inflammatory disease mainly involving the large airways.Pathologists and physiologists clearly recognize that the inflammatory process of asthma patients has extended to the small airways and lung parenchyma outside the central airways and believed that the small airway is the main site of airflow obstruction in asthma patients.Non-invasive techniques have been used to assess and infer the extent of small airway disease in asthma and can be used to evaluate the treatment response.As inhaler technology improves, drugs are delivered to the entire bronchial tree to improve asthma control and natural history.This article focuses on the correlation between small airway dysfunction and asthma clinical manifestations and disease progression.The purpose is to better understand small airway dysfunction as a unique pathological process of asthma and to discover more specific and targeted therapies for asthma and provides new ideas for asthma control. Key words: Small airway dysfunction; Asthma control; Airway inflammation