Clinical Manifestations of Respiratory Disease

Abstract

This text is designed as an introduction to clinical evaluation of respiratory tract disease for students of respiratory therapy. The outline style and didactic form facilitate the answering of self-assessment questions at the end of each chapter. The first chapter contains an introduction to normal anatomy and classic aspects of normal respiratory tract physiology. The extensive use of line drawings helps to clarify more complex aspects of mechanics, gas exchange, and the control of ventilation. Subsequent chapters deal with the clinical manifestations of assorted respiratory tract disorders. The selection of disease topics for these chapters seems to be somewhat arbitrary and unbalanced. Asbestosis and flail chest, for instance, are treated as separate chapters, but the more generic topics of pulmonary fibrosis and chest trauma are not discussed. Most of the clinical topics are dealt with superficially. Although the text is greatly aided by diagrams, there are too many unnecessary duplications.