Bronchiectasis
Bronchiectasis is a condition characterised by irreversibly dilated bronchi. The normal processes by which mucous and cells are cleared fail to operate, and the result is pooling of secretions which are prone to become infected. The commonest cause is following an infection which has caused prolonged and severe coughing, such as whooping cough. It is also a complication of cystic fibrosis, and very rarely may be congenital as in Kartagener’s syndrome (a disorder resulting from failure of ciliary function in the foetus, producing absent frontal sinuses and situs inversus, where the heart is on the right side of the body, and the liver on the left). If only one small part of one lung is involved, then surgery may prevent repeated infection. Otherwise the mainstay of treatment is physiotherapy and postural drainage, together with antibiotics.
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