Bronchiectasis Bronchiectasis is a chronic infectious disease of the lungs. What are the main causes of bronchiectasis The main causes of acquired bronchiectasis are infection and obstruction, both of which are mutually causal. Initially, infection leads to bronchitis, resulting in bronchial mucosa edema, congestion, increased secretions, enlarged peribronchial lymph nodes in inflammation, and sputum not easily discharged aggravating the infection. Repeated infections cause destruction of bronchial wall, narrowing of bronchial scar, and become the main factor of bronchial dilatation after → easy obstruction, and the distal bronchus then becomes columnar or cystic enlargement, and becomes a column or cystic bag for the accumulation of infected secretions. Thereafter, local infection is more likely to occur on the basis of this lesion, which further leads to bronchiectasis in a larger range of lung tissues → more likely to have lung infection than normal → the range of bronchiectasis may spread from one lung lobe to two or more lung lobes → finally it may lead to bronchiectasis in a wide range of multiple lung lobes in both lungs. A small number of patients with congenital defects in the development of bronchial cartilage supporting tissues are more prone to infections infection and bronchial dilatation. Clinical manifestations of bronchiectasis The main manifestations are sputum production, hemoptysis, and recurrent respiratory and pulmonary infections. ① Patients have more sputum excretion, mostly yellow-green purulent mucus, and even malodorous. Changes in position, especially in the morning when waking up, may induce violent cough and sputum. ② Hemoptysis is caused by the rupture of small blood vessels dilated in the superficial layer of the bronchus, and in severe cases, hemoptysis can reach hundreds of milliliters at a time, which may even lead to the death of the patient by suffocation. Treatment of bronchial dilatation 1. Conservative medical treatment (1) method: anti-infective, phlegm-reducing and even hemostatic drugs are given; (2) effect: it can improve the inflammation of the lungs and bronchi, but cannot reverse the pathological changes of bronchial dilatation that have already occurred; (3) suitable for the population: ① patients with small bronchial dilatation lesions and less severe lesions (cum infrequent diseases and those whose condition can be easily controlled), ② patients with extremely extensive lesions and those who cannot be treated. patients with extremely extensive lesions who cannot tolerate surgery or cannot achieve infection control even with surgery; ③preparation for surgery and surgical treatment after infection control. 2.Surgical treatment: Since the pathological changes of bronchiectasis that have occurred are irreversible, removal of diseased lung tissue is an effective method for treating bronchiectasis of moderate degree or above. The effect after bronchiectasis surgery is more satisfactory. The symptoms disappear or improve significantly in about 90% of cases. Those with residual symptoms after surgery are mostly due to residual lesions (the lesions are too extensive and cannot be completely removed by surgery, otherwise the lung function of the patient is extremely poor after surgery, which may endanger the patient’s life or the quality of life is extremely poor, so only the main lesions can be removed) or residual cavity after surgery (the lesions are too extensive and too much diseased lung tissue is removed by surgery, so the remaining lung tissue cannot fill the chest cavity).