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…
Introduction The lung is a common site for metastasis of malignant tumors from other organs. Logic would suggest that the lung is such a common destination for metastasis because it…
Introduction Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are chronic inflammatory airway diseases that result from an interaction between genetic or host susceptibility and different environmental exposures. Both airway diseases…
