Thoracic Key

Introduction Pulmonary edema—defined as excessive extravascular water in the lungs—is a common and serious clinical problem. Pulmonary edema can be life-threatening, but effective therapy is available to rescue patients from…

Introduction Positron emission tomography (PET) with 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is a noninvasive imaging technique with several important applications in respiratory medicine. PET has long been used to evaluate inflammatory conditions…

Introduction Previous chapters focused on the major diseases affecting primarily the intrathoracic airways. These diseases include asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, and bronchiectasis. Less common entities also primarily affect airways. Unlike…

Introduction Asthma is a common disease whose prevalence has increased throughout the world for several decades. For many years the major focus of asthma investigations and treatment was on allergic…

Introduction and History Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as it is currently defined, is a spectrum of lung abnormalities characterized physiologically by persistent airflow obstruction. The histologic abnormalities seen most…

Introduction The upper airway ranges from the nares to the subglottis and includes diverse anatomic structures with a wide variety of functions. Along with assisting in respiration, the structures of…

Introduction Mycobacteria have played an extremely important role in influencing society throughout history. Tuberculosis and Hansen disease (leprosy), the two most prominent mycobacterial diseases, have been recognized as scourges of…

Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition characterized by persistent airflow limitation that is usually progressive and is associated with a chronic enhanced inflammatory response in the airways…

Introduction Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable premature morbidity and mortality in the United States and in many countries around the world. An average of 443,000 people in…

Introduction As the leading cause of cancer death in the world, lung cancer is currently a public health problem of enormous magnitude. In 2008 more than 1.6 million people were…