More articles from Volume 36, Issue 2, 2008
EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF THE SMALLAIRWAYS DISEASE AT ASYMPTOMATIC SMOKERS
THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY WARNING SCORE IN PREDICTING IN-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST
ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC AND HEMODYNAMIC CHANGES IN ANESTHETIZED DOGS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF VERAPAMIL
INTRAHOSPITAL MORTALITY OF PATIENTS SUFFERING AN ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF MYOCARDIAL REINFARCTION IN THE INTRAHOSPITAL PERIOD
THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY WARNING SCORE IN PREDICTING IN-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST
EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF THE SMALLAIRWAYS DISEASE AT ASYMPTOMATIC SMOKERS
Institute of Pathophysiology, Medical faculty Priština , Kosovska Mitrovica , Kosovo*
Institute of Pathophysiology, Medical faculty Priština , Kosovska Mitrovica , Kosovo*
Institute of Pathophysiology, Medical faculty Priština , Kosovska Mitrovica , Kosovo*
Institute of Pathophysiology, Medical faculty Priština , Kosovska Mitrovica , Kosovo*
Abstract
Many researchers and clinical doctors have realized that spirometric tests, as well as the resistance of airways, could be within the normal limits at people who have clear signs of bronchitis (coughing, expectoration and lighter disphnoe). Very often, especially among smokers, they have found discrepancy between the functional tests' results and clinical symptoms, although they could expect to find minor lungs' diseases within this group of people. Obstructive lesions in small airways are very often present at smokers older than 40 years, whose lungs are macroscopically normal, and who do not show clinical signs of the obstructive lung disease ('asymptomatic smokers'). The aim of the paper was to find which test, among the most often-used tests for the functional research of the respiratory system, represented the best indicator of the initial obstructive changes localized in small airways. The research study included 50 asymptomatic smokers (34 male and 16 female) ranging from 44 to 57 years. The results of the achieved FVC were at normal level, at all examinees. Out of 50 examinees, asymptomatic smokers, there was one examinee (2%) with the lower level of FEV , while at two examinees 1 (4%) lower levels of SRt and MEF were found. Significantly lower levels of the measured MEF were found among 50%FVC 25%FVC 16 asymptomatic smokers (32%). Such a functional result, i.e. a decrease of MEF while the levels of FVC, FEV , Rt, 25%FVC 1 SRt and MEF are normal, accompanied by a long-lasting smoking case-history with less expressed symptoms, points at 50%FVC the existence of the obstructive disorders localized in the periphery parts of the bronchial tree (small airways). The registration of the flow/volume curve and its analysis might be used as a test even more sensitive than spirometry and body pletizmografy; as a test it can be used for a diagnosis of initial obstructive difficulties in small airways, in other words, it could diagnose the small airways disease.
Keywords
References
Citation
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Article metrics
The statements, opinions and data contained in the journal are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publisher and the editor(s). We stay neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
