Chronic Bronchitis: Introduction

00:02 Obstructive lung disease.

00:03 Continuing our discussion.

00:05 And here, we’ll be able to clearly define chronic bronchitis, compare this with emphysema and keep in mind, please, once again, when we’ve looked at the overview of COPD.

00:16 Know the definition and as to how often times chronic bronchitis is not only in your patients with asthma, which is commonly found in the US, as a diagnosis, but could also be seen with emphysema as well.

00:30 Okay, so, let’s go now with chronic bronchitis.

00:34 Well, it’s a fact that literally, here, up in the bronchi.

00:37 So, we’re pretty proximal, aren’t we, in terms of your respiratory tree? And so therefore, if the bronchi, that you see the cartoon here on your left, then these are undergoing inflammation, but apart from inflammation, you also have production of mucus.

00:52 Sounds kind of familiar to asthma or very similar to asthma, does it not? So therefore, you’ll have many of your patients that may then present with a long standing productive cough.

01:04 If the cough has been present for at least three months of each of the last two years, they would meet criteria for chronic bronchitis.

01:12 And so therefore, the symptoms of asthma and chronic bronchitis could be found together.

01:17 On your CT here, bilaterally, in what has been circled, is the fact that the bronchi is undergoing inflammation and it looks dilated and you can clearly see that here on your chest CT.