[Diseases of the airways]

Abstract

Diseases of the airways are common symptomatic patterns with a steadily increasing prevalence. Bronchial pathologies are often encountered in the daily routine and also often as secondary findings, e.g. in cancerous diseases in the form of (chronic) bronchitis, emphysema and bronchiolitis. Characteristic methodological techniques in imaging of the airways are computed tomography (CT) acquisition in expiration for occlusive diseases of the airways and the possibility of quantitative CT image analysis by measuring the thickness of the parenchyma and the bronchial wall. In general a differentiation is made between diseases of the large and small airways. In diseases of the large airways, which include bronchitis, pulmonary cystic fibrosis and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, the predominant pattern is the occurrence of bronchial wall thickening, bronchiectasis and mucus impaction. Examples of diseases of the small airways are emphysema, bronchial asthma, exogenous allergic alveolitis and the various forms of bronchiolitis. The predominant morphological patterns are the tree-in-bud pattern and air trapping. Even though the morphological pattern of findings is unspecific, together with the distribution and clinical findings it can often be decisive for the diagnostics.