A Simple Guide to Breath Sounds, Related Diseases and Use in Disease Diagnosis (A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions)
Kenneth Kee (Author)
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Respiratory
Breathing is a natural process which every one of us does every day without even realizing it.
Air goes through the nose or mouth and enters the trachea (windpipe) into the two major bronchi (air tubes) which lead into the right and left lungs.
From there smaller air tubes (bronchioles) bring the air to the alveoli (air sacs) where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged in the capillaries surrounding the air sacs.
The sound that air makes when entering the lungs are called breath sounds.
Breath sounds are usually heard with the stethoscope on the front and back skin of the chest.
They can be heard easily when the patient is asked to breathe in and out.
In a man with a hairy chest some crackling sound may be heart due to the movement of the stethoscope on his hairs.
In this case the hairs may be to be made wet with water before hearing the chest.
Obesity van also adversely affect the volume of the breath sound due to the amount of fat that the breath sounds have to passed through before reaching the stethoscope.
What is Normal Breath Sounds?
1. Vesicular breath sounds
Vesicular breath sounds are the most common sounds heard over the chest.
They are present at sites that are at a distance from large airways.
The vesicular sound is a soft sound like wind blowing through trees.
It is louder in inspiration than expiration.
The expiratory sound is of relatively low amplitude.
The vesicular sound is commonly decreased in chronic obstructive lung disease.
It is also decreased over sites of pneumonia in the early stages of the illness.
It is usually decreased or absent in conditions where the ventilation to an area of lung is impaired: e. g. pneumothorax, misplaced endotracheal tube, mucus plugging.
2. Bronchial breath sounds
Bronchial breath sounds consist of a full inspiratory and expiratory phase with the inspiratory phase usually being louder.
They are normally heard over the trachea and larynx.
Bronchial sounds are not normally heard over the thorax.
They have a tubular or blowing quality similar to air being blown through a tube.
This type of breath sound is heard best over the trachea.
Bronchial sounds are also heard on the back between the scapulae and at the lung apices especially on the right.
They may also be heard in the axillae.
When they are heard in locations at a distance from large airways they mean consolidation.
This is believed to be due to better transmission of the centrally generated lung sound through the consolidated lung.
This is more likely to occur during the expiratory phase because the expiratory phase has a more central origin than the inspiratory phase.
3. Bronchovesicular breath sounds
Bronchovesicular breath sounds consist of a full inspiratory phase with a shortened and softer expiratory phase.
They are normally heard over the hilar region
They are usually quieter than the tracheal breath sounds.
Abnormal Lung Sounds
1. Crepitations
Crepitations or crackles are intermittent, nonmusical and brief sounds that are caused by fluid in the small airways or collapse.
Crepitations may be heard on inspiration or expiration.
They are popping sounds produced when air is forced through the airways that are narrowed by fluid, mucus, or pus.
Crepitations are often associated with inflammation or infection of the small bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli.
They are significant as they imply either:
a. accumulation of fluid secretions
b. exudates within airways or inflammation
c. edema in the pulmonary tissue.
Crepitations that do not clear after a cough may indicate pulmonary edema or fluid in the alveoli due to heart failure or adult respiratory distress syndrome.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Chapter 1 Breath Sounds
Chapter 2 Disease Diagnosis
Chapter 3 Asthma
Chapter 4 Bronchitis
Chapter 5 Chronic Obstructive Disease of the Lung
Chapter 6 Pleural Effusion
Chapter 7 Pneumothorax
Chapter 8 Pneumonia
Chapter 9 Cancer of lungs
- Rank: #529479 in eBooks
- Published on: 2012-12-12
- Released on: 2012-12-12
- Format: Kindle eBook
- Number of items: 1
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