Overview
Airway disease with excessive mucus production is usually caused by a condition called bronchiectasis. Bronchiectasis is a condition where the bronchi in the lungs are abnormally dilated. There are many causes for this condition and it can be divided into congenital (since birth) and acquired (later in life). Some of the congenital causes are cystic fibrosis, ciliary dysfunction syndrome, and primary hypogammaglobulinemia. Acquired causes for these conditions are severe infection during infancy such as measles and whooping cough, primary tuberculosis, suppurative pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillus, and bronchial tumors. The presenting symptoms of this condition are chronic persistent cough with a copious amount of sputum, pleuritic pain and hemoptysis. Some of the investigations which can be useful in diagnosing this condition are sputum culture, chest x-ray, and CT thorax. The treatment for this condition are antibiotics depending on the culture result, corticosteroid can be beneficial in certain circumstances, and also chest physiotherapy. The last resort will be a surgical treatment which is rarely needed.
