Respiratory medicine: asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis
General Medicine · MBBS
Study notes
Night-time wheeze relieved by an inhaler — asthma; inhaled steroids prevent attacks. Asthma (reversible airway hyperreactivity — triggers: dust, pollen, exercise; wheeze, night cough; spirometry — reversible obstruction): inhaled corticosteroids (preventer) + SABA (reliever); stepwise escalation. COPD (smoking — irreversible: chronic bronchitis — productive cough; emphysema — barrel chest, pursed-lip; FEV1/FVC <0.7 post-bronchodilator): smoking cessation (only intervention slowing decline) + LABA/LAMA + ICS if exacerbations. Bronchiectasis (permanent dilation — chronic purulent sputum, HRCT signet-ring; post-TB commonest in India: airway clearance, antibiotics for exacerbations). The night wheeze is asthma — the morning smoker's cough is COPD.
Related topics
- Cardiology: ischemic heart disease — angina, MI
- Cardiology: heart failure, cardiomyopathies
- Cardiology: arrhythmias, conduction blocks, valvular heart disease
- Cardiology: hypertension, pericardial diseases, infective endocarditis
- Respiratory medicine: pneumonia, tuberculosis, pleural diseases
- Respiratory medicine: interstitial lung disease, lung cancer, respiratory failure