Characteristics of clinical feature in the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with bronchiectasis

Abstract

Objective To analyse the clinical characteristics of moderate and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with bronchiectasis. Methods We examined 200 patients with acute exacerbation of COPD hospitalized in the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University and Handan Central Hospital from 2015 to 2016 included 173 males and 27 females, 56-78 years old, mean age (68.53±9.62) years old.Pulmonary function tests, sputum culture, and high-resolution chest CT (HRCT) scans were performed on all selected patients.Pulmonary function test was carried out during stable phase.We selected six levels from every patient′s HRCT, which include each two level images from lung apex, tracheal carina and above the right diaphragm.These images were taken with<2 mm collimation at end expiration following a forced vital.The characteristics of emphysema and bronchial performance were judged. Results There were 86 cases of COPD patients with bronchiectasis and 114 cases without it.These 86 cases of patients (43% in total) included 23 cases of patients with moderate COPD and 63 cases of patients with severe COPD.The COPD patients complicating with bronchiectasis exhibited more severe symptoms.They have chronic expectoration (cough yellow sputum or yellow white phlegm) in 63 cases, acute exacerbations admitted to hospital at least once a year in 74 cases, sputum culture positive in 34 cases.The moderate and severe COPD patient with bronchiectasis was 43%, including 62 cases of cylindrical bronchiectasis and 58 cases of bronchiectasis in the lower lobe distribution. Conclusions HRCT plays an important role in diagnosis of COPD complicated with bronchiectasis.COPD complicated with bronchiectasis have more severe airflow obstruction, acute exacerbation and lower respiratory tract bacterial infections frequent compare with COPD alone. Key words: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Acute exacerbation; Bronchiectasis; Phenotype; Prognosis