Diffuse panbronchiolitis: case report and review of the literature.

Diffuse panbronchiolitis is an uncommon disease of unknown aetiology mainly occurring in Asian races. Treatment with erythromycin acting through unclarified mechanisms is promising and may improve the poor prognosis currently associated with the disease. A case is presented illustrating how the imaging features of the disease, particularly on high-resolution computed tomography, may be used to support a diagnosis suggested on clinical grounds.

Lymphomatoid granulomatosis: case report and review of the literature.

Lymphomatoid granulomatosis (LG) is an uncommon disease now regarded by most authors as an unusual form of lymphoma with the ability to affect any bodily system. The disease and its complications may result in a spectrum of radiological appearances. A case illustrating how cerebral lesions may mimic demyelinating plaque, neoplasm or infection and how pulmonary lesions may lead to pneumopericardium is presented.

Chemodectoma of the trachea.

The case history is described of a patient with lower tracheal chemodectoma who presented with haemoptysis. After conservative management for eight years she represented with airways obstruction. Preoperative tumour embolisation was followed by laser ablation, stenting, and radiotherapy.

The effects of inspiratory muscle training on exercise performance in chronic airflow limitation.

Using a simple, inexpensive, at-home program, 12 patients with moderate-to-severe chronic air flow limitation trained their inspiratory muscles. All showed increased inspiratory muscle endurance with no change in inspiratory muscle strength. Seven of the twelve patients increased their endurance time for submaximal exercise beyond the 90% confidence limits determined by 2 pretraining tests (i.

Inspiratory muscle training compared with physiotherapy in patients with chronic airflow limitation.

The effects on exercise performance of physiotherapy (PT) (8 patients) were compared with those of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) (9 patients) in severe chronic airflow limitation. Exercise performance was measured by 3 tests: the distance walked in 12 min, peak oxygen uptake on a progressive multistage exercise test, and endurance time at two thirds of maximal power output. Measurements were repeated after a 1-month control period during which no change was observed apart from an increase in the distance walked in 12 min in the PT group.

Occlusion pressure responses in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

During CO2 rebreathing we measured ventilation and the pressure generated during the first 0.1 sec of inspiratory effort against a closed airway (P 0.1) in 12 asthmatics during acute exacerbation, 10 normal subjects, and 10 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Effect of gas physical properties and flow on lower pulmonary resistance.

We measured lower pulmonary resistance (Rlp) in eight dogs and three men breathing gas mixtures having different densities (p) and similar viscosities (mu). Rlp increased with gas density and with flow rate (V). In the dogs, these effects were not observed in lung segments subtended from 4-mm-ID bronchi; in more central airways, resistance varied approximately as (mup V)0.

Congenital esophagobronchial fistula in a 62-year-old woman.

A 62-year-old woman had symptoms of cough provoked by ingestion of liquids and radiologic changes compatible with repeated bouts of aspiration pneumonitis. A left bronchoesophageal fistula was easily demonstrated by barium esophagogram and fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Division of the fistula resulted in immediate disappearance of the symptoms, gradual resolution of the radiologic abnormalities, and marked improvement in the results of pulmonary function tests.

The early detection of airway obstruction.

To assess the sensitivity of tests for early, small airway obstruction, we selected 52 cigarette smokers with a ratio of 1-sec forced expiratory volume to forced vital capacity greater than 70 per cent from a smoking cessation clinic. From these subjects, 29 of the 46 tested demonstrated frequency dependence of dynamic compliance, a finding arbitrarily defined as indicative of small airway obstruction in this group. Dynamic compliance was correlated with the British Medical Research Council questionnaire, routine pulmonary function tests, closing volume as a per cent of vital capacity, maximal expiratory flow-volume curves, and flow dependence of distribution of inhaled boluses of xenon-133 (finite difference Xe).

Site of airway obstruction in asthma as determined by measuring maximal expiratory flow breathing air and a helium-oxygen mixture.

Because maximum expiratory flow-volume rates in normal subjects are dependent on gas density, the resistance between alveoli and the point at which dynamic compression begins (R(us)) is mostly due to convective acceleration and turbulence. We measured maximum expiratory flow-volume (MEFV) curves in asthmatics and chronic bronchitics breathing air and He-O(2). In the latter and in some asthmatics, MEFV curves did not change, indicating that R(us) is mostly due to laminar flow.