Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Nr Anthonisen

doi:10.1155/2007/986892

Abstract

Fifty years ago, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the ideal disease for physiologically oriented clinicians to study, for a number of reasons. First, it was becoming recognized as a major health problem. Second, it could only be diagnosed reliably by physiological testing; x-rays did not work. Third, it was associated with a lot of interesting pathophysiology, including cor pulmonale, alterations in the control of ventilation, and perhaps most interesting of all, abnormalities that were primarily related to the distributions of ventilation and/or perfusion as opposed to global inadequacy of either of them.

Highlights

Fifty years ago, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the ideal disease for physiologically oriented clinicians to study, for a number of reasons
Bates was the key author of three editions of Respiratory Function in Disease [3,5,6], an enormously influential text that emphasized the physiological approach to lung disease that had been established in the study of COPD
They established that the major site of increased airway resistance in COPD was in the peripheral airways [8]; it was later shown that peripheral airway lesions were characteristic of smokers

Summary

Introduction

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the ideal disease for physiologically oriented clinicians to study, for a number of reasons. Bates was the key author of three editions of Respiratory Function in Disease [3,5,6], an enormously influential text that emphasized the physiological approach to lung disease that had been established in the study of COPD. He had obtained lung function studies in virtually all patients who were scheduled to undergo surgery for coronary artery disease.

Results

Conclusion