Practical tips in bronchiectasis for Primary Care

Abstract

Bronchiectasis is the third most common chronic inflammatory airway disease, after chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma with a prevalence clearly underestimated probably because of its clinical similitudes with other chronic airway diseases. Bronchiectasis can be caused by a dozen of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary diseases and a variable number and severity of exacerbations can appear throughout its natural history, usually with an infectious profile. The dilation of the airway and the inflammation/infection is their radiological and pathophysiological hallmarks. Primary Care should play an important play in many aspects of the bronchiectasis assessment. In this article, we will try to offer a series of important concepts and practical tips on some key aspects of the diagnosis and management of bronchiectasis in Primary Care: clinical suspicion, diagnostic methods, severity assessment, overlap with asthma and COPD and microbiological and therapeutic aspects.

Do Patients with Bronchiectasis Have an Increased Risk of Developing Lung Cancer? A Systematic Review

“…The clinical overlap between the multiple respiratory affections, the heterogeneous clinical presentation, and the frequently inadequate radiological interpretation lead to the misdiagnosis and underdiagnoses of NCFB [ 10 ]. Although the exact epidemiology of NCFB is still unknown, different authors have reported increasing prevalence and incidence rates of NCFB during the last three decades.…”