| Abstrakt: |
The increasing incidence of pulmonary emphysema demands a greater concern by physicians for the effective medical assistance available to these patients. At least 23 different measures of treatment are available. The list includes antibiotics, bronchodilators, mechanical assistance, steroids, atmospheric control, breathing exercises, surgery, respiratory stimulants, thyroid depressants, active immunization programs, pneumoperitoneum, venesection, control of coincident diseases, assistance with emotional problems, and education of patients. Judicious selections from this list may produce excellent results. Furthermore, improvement in this disease does not need to be great, as measured by objective pulmonary function tests, to have subjectively gratifying effects. Fundamental to the whole program, however, is the physician, who must have a genuine interest in the patient and his disease. |
