Respiratory: Lecture 7 - What are the Anatomical-Pathological Consequences of Chronic Cough? Flashcards
Why do you cough?
Protect and clear our respiratory tract (“airways”)
What is the purpose of the Cough Reflex?
- Protects the lungs against aspiration (the inhalation of foreign bodies)
- Enhances clearance of the excess mucus produced by inflamed respiratory mucosa
What stimulates the sensory receptors in the mucosa of the respiratory tree?
- Inflammatory mediators (produced e.g. secondary to infections/asthma)
- Irritant chemicals (e.g. in cigarette smoke, pollution)
- A build up of mucus (e.g. in asthma/infection)
- Certain drugs (cough can be an unpleasant side-effect of a drug)
In Upright patients were will foreign bodies tend to be inhaled to?
The Inferior Lobe
What does dynamic airway compression in asthma cause?
- expiration difficult
- build up of air trapped in alveoli can lead to rupture of lung & visceral pleura
Describe the bifarcation of the lung ?
What does a breach of the visceral pleura cause?
- Causes the vaccum to be lost.
- The lung recoils towards the lung root due to elastic recoil
- Results in a small pneumothorax
What is considered a small Pneumothorax?
Less than 2 cm between the lung and the parietal pleura
What is considered a large pneumothorax?
Greater than 2 cm between the lung and the parietal pleura
How is a Pneumothorax diagnosed?
1.History:
•as per clinical lectures
2.Examination:
- reduced ipsilateral chest expansion
- reduced ipsilateral breath sounds
- hyper-resonance on percussion
3.Investigation (CXR):
- absent lung markings peripherally
- lung edge visible (red arrows)
What is a tension Pneumothroax?
A pneumothorax were the mediastinal strucutre have shifted due to a build up of pressure in the pleural cavity.
What is the anatomy of the mediastinum?
- Superior section of mediastinum is from T4 superiorly. (This is the level of the sternal angle)
- The heart is in the middle of the mediastinum
- The Anterior Mediastinum is infront of the heart - The Thymus is here
- The Posterior mediastinum is behind the heart - the great vessels of the heart, the esophagus, the trachea, the phrenic nerve, the cardiac nerve, the thoracic duct, thethymus, and the lymph nodes of the central chest occupy this space
What is found in the posterior mediastinum?
- The great vessels of the heart,
- the esophagus,
- the trachea,
- the phrenic nerve,
- the cardiac nerve,
- the thoracic duct
- thethymus,
- the lymph nodes of the central chest.
What are the consequences of mediastinal shift?
- SVC compression reduces venous return to the heart leading to hypotension (low arterial blood pressure)
- tension pneumothorax may be bilateral!!
How is a large Peumothorax managed?
What causes a tension Pneumothorax?
- the torn pleura can create a one-way valve that permits air to enter the pleural cavity on each inspiration but prevents air escaping again on expiration
- with each inspiration more air enters the pleural cavity
- the pneumothorax expands & the lung collapses towards its root
- eventually the build up of air in the pleural cavity applies tension (pressure) to the mediastinal structures
How is a large Pneumothorax treated?
- needle aspiration (thoracentesis)
- the siting of a chest drain
-both procedures via the:
4th or 5th intercostal space in the midaxillary line
What is the “Safe Triangle”?
- the anterior border of latissimus dorsi
- the posterior border pectoralis major
- axial line superior to the nipple
what is the emergency management of a tension pneumothorax?
insert a large gauge cannula (grey/orange) into the pleural cavity via the 2nd or 3rd intercostal space in the midclavicular line on the side of the tension Pneumothorax