The irreversible component of airway obstruction in asthma
| Autor: | E M Melillo, G. Melillo |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2001 |
| Předmět: |
Spirometry
medicine.medical_specialty COPD medicine.diagnostic_test business.industry Immunology Advanced stage Disease Airway obstruction medicine.disease Microbiology respiratory tract diseases Pharmacological treatment Surgery Infectious Diseases Internal medicine Cardiology Immunology and Allergy Medicine Differential diagnosis business Asthma |
| Zdroj: | Clinical and Applied Immunology Reviews. 1:235-242 |
| ISSN: | 1529-1049 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/s1529-1049(01)00019-8 |
| Popis: | We present six patients with long-standing asthma who demonstrated irreversible obstruction, refractory to long-term pharmacologic treatment. The structural changes of airway obstruction may be detected only by morphological studies. Nevertheless, we can quantify structural changes from the modifications in physiologic measurements of airflow. Different types of irreversibility may be observed during functional tests. Fixed irreversibility is seen in adult asthmatics and with particular evidence in elderly patients who have had the disease for many years. Despite maximal therapy, patients show a persistent, chronic ventilatory pattern on spirometry in a long-term follow-up. Asthma presents a spectrum of airway obstruction which may, on one hand, progress in time and with the chronicity of the disease toward a partial reversibility and, on the other hand, toward a persistent irreversibility which mimics the functional aspects of COPD. At this advanced stage, differential diagnosis between the two diseases (asthma and COPD) may be done only by clinical history. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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