Bedi et al reported the bronchiectasis radiologically indexed CT score (BRICS) for evaluating a patient with bronchiectasis. The authors are from multiple institutions in the UK, Italy and Spain.
Patient selection: bronchiectasis (internal diameter of bronchus greater than the adjacent pulmonary artery and lack of tapering of the bronchial lumen towards the periphery)
Analysis: high-resolution chest CT
Parameters:
(1) bronchial dilatation
(2) number of bronchopulmonary segments with emphysema
Parameters
Findings
Points
bronchial dilatation
absent
0
mild (lumen just larger than adjacent vessel)
1
moderate (lumen 2-3 times the diameter of adjacent vessel)
2
severe (lumen > 3 times the diameter of adjacent vessel)
3
number of broncho-pulmonary segments
0
0
1 to 5
1
>= 6
2
BRICS =
= SUM(points for both parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 5
• The higher the score the greater the disease severity.
• Severe disease is associated with low FEV1 as percent of predicted, increased sputum purulence and increased risk for hospital admission.
BRICS
Disease Severity
0
none
1
mild
2 or 3
moderate
4 or 5
severe
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve for predicted FEV1 was 0.79 to 0.81.
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