Is clinical wheezing reliable as the endpoint for bronchial challenges in preschool children?

The present study was designed to compare the clinical finding of wheeze by auscultation with an objective evaluation by acoustic means at the endpoint of a bronchial challenge in preschool children. Challenges were undertaken using a tidal breathing method in 51 preschool children as part of the investigation of possible asthma. An electronic stethoscope was used for auscultation of each lung and for the simultaneous recording of the acoustic sonogram for analysis.

Exhaled nitric oxide is age-dependent in asthma.

We determined whether the exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) level in asthmatics is age-dependent. Eighty-seven asthmatic patients aged 2-41 years were studied. Hyperreactivity to adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) was used to confirm asthma ( View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gavaging the infant lung.

An 8-month-old female infant was hospitalized for persistent bilateral infiltrates, failure to thrive, and tachypnea. An extensive diagnostic workup was negative, except for strong oil-red O staining of the white-turbid bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and borderline esophageal pH monitoring. Conservative treatment failed, and she was scheduled for gastrostomy and Nissen-fundoplication until the family physician found that the anxious mother was feeding the child forcibly, which caused chronic aspiration pneumonitis.