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Bronchiectasis is a disease characterized by abnormal widening of the walls of the bronchi and inflammation within them. Bronchiectasis is a serious disease that can lead to the so-called pulmonary heart and circulatory failure. What are the causes and symptoms of bronchiectasis? How is the treatment going?

Bronchiectasisis a disease whose essence is irreversible, abnormal widening of the bronchial walls, which occurs as a result of damage to their structure.

The airways normally produce a small amount of mucus to stop microorganisms from entering the lungs. This mucus, along with pathogenic microbes, is then carried to the throat and removed from the respiratory tract to prevent infection. However, in some cases, mucus builds up in the respiratory tract, resulting in the multiplication of pathogens, and further inflammation, damage to the structure of the bronchial walls and their dilatation.

Bronchiectasis - Causes

Bronchiectasis can develop in congenital diseases such as, for example, cystic fibrosis, abnormal cilia (primary ciliary dyskinesia - PCD), and primary immunodeficiencies.

Bronchiectasis can also be a consequence of severe respiratory infections - especially tuberculosis, measles, whooping cough, and a complication of influenza. The risk of developing this disease is also high in people who struggle with COPD, severe asthma or interstitial lung disease.

Bronchiectasis may occur in people with systemic diseases such as acquired immunodeficiency (e.g. AIDS), connective tissue diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases.

Other causes of bronchiectasis include a foreign body or a tumor in the respiratory tract, gastroesophageal reflux, and inhaling toxic gases or irritants (including long-term cigarette smoking).

Bronchiectasis - Symptoms

  • chronic cough
  • shortness of breath
  • chest pain
  • deterioration of exercise tolerance
  • coughing up excessive sputum, which is usually yellow
  • haemoptysis, usually caused by damage to the inflamed mucosa
  • repeatedrespiratory and lung infections accompanied by symptoms such as fever, general fatigue, weight loss
  • stick fingers
Important

Bronchiectasis can lead to pulmonary heart

Characteristic of bronchiectasis is a chronic cough that causes pressure changes in the airways, which puts a strain on the circulatory system. As a consequence, the so-calledpulmonary heart syndrome , i.e. to the hypertrophy and enlargement of the right ventricle of the heart muscle, which may result in circulatory failure.

Bronchiectasis - diagnosis

  • interview - the doctor asks the patient about respiratory diseases in childhood or adolescence, e.g. pneumonia, bronchitis
  • auscultation of the patient - in case of bronchiectasis, you can hear crackles, rattles, whistles and whistles
  • bronchoscopy - you can collect material for microbiological and histopathological examination
  • high resolution computed tomography (TKWR)

Additionally, depending on the symptoms, the doctor may order, for example, an X-ray of the paranasal sinuses, cultures of sputum or bronchial secretions for fungi, tuberculosis, and determination of the rheumatoid factor to find the causes of the disease.

Bronchiectasis Treatment

The patient is given mucolytics - drugs whose task is to facilitate the expectoration of the remaining secretions in order to clean the respiratory tract. Therapy also includes treatment of exacerbations (antibiotics are given), oxygen therapy and infection prevention (e.g. flu vaccination).

Surgical treatment is performed in exceptional situations - when the patient experiences frequent relapses despite proper treatment, as well as in patients at risk of massive hemorrhages and in cases of localized dilatation.

Bronchiectasis - Prognosis

Scientists set out to determine the prognosis of patients with bronchiectasis by comparing them with a group of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. It turned out that the risk of death was highest in patients with COPD, lowest in patients with asthma, and indirect in the case of bronchiectasis (28% of patients with bronchiectasis, 38% of COPD patients and 20% of patients with bronchiectasis died during the follow-up period). asthma).

Worth knowing

Bronchiectasis can be prevented

Childhood vaccinations against whooping cough and measles can prevent the development of bronchiectasis. Regular vaccinations are also recommendedagainst influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia to reduce the likelihood of complications from the disease due to bacterial infection.

You should also avoid smoking, inhaling tobacco smoke, and staying in a place with fungus.

Bibliography:

Czerniawska J., Hawryłkiewicz, I., Górecka D.,Thirty years of observation of a patient with bronchiectasis , "Pneumonologia i Allergologia Polska" 2007, 75

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Category:

Respiratory system