Studies
Smoking Cessation and Functional CT Assessment
The investigators will study the effect of pulmonary arterial vasodilation to see if it eliminates indices of persistent lung injury in smokers that are susceptible to emphysema.
HPV Functional CT Assessment
This study will use dual energy x-ray computed tomography (DECT) to evaluate the relationship between heterogeneous perfusion, hypoxia (low oxygen in inspired gas) and induction of pulmonary vascular dilatation to characterize emphysema susceptibility in a normal smoking population. The investigators will correlate DECT measures of perfusion with lung injury measured by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The investigators will study the effect of pulmonary arterial vasodilation to see if it eliminates indices of persistent lung injury in smokers that are susceptible to emphysema