Bullectomy, lung volume reduction surgery and transplantation can palliate dyspnoea in emphysema. The available data suggest that their mode of action, at least with regard to pulmonary mechanics, includes beneficial effects on dynamic hyperinflation. In single lung transplant recipients, this may be asymmetric, causing native lung hyperinflation.

Lung hyperinflation is a technique used by physiotherapists to mobilize and remove excess bronchial secretions, reinflate areas of pulmonary collapse and improve oxygenation. To assess the efficacy of manual hyperinflation in improving arterial oxygenation (PaO2) of paediatric patients with upper lobe lung collapse after cardiac surgery. 18 paediatric patients who had undergone heart surgery an...

OBJECTIVES Lung transplantation is an established treatment for patients with advanced emphysema. Double-lung transplantation is favoured to avoid complications following single-lung transplantation, including native lung hyperinflation. Nonetheless, single-lung transplantation continues due to limited donor organ availability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pre-operative assessment,...

The classification of chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) into clinical and pathophysiological subsets is not new, but increasing data is available on the relation of these different phenotypes to clinically meaningful outcomes. This review focuses on the “emphysema-hyperinflation” (EH) phenotype, which is characterised by a prominent loss of lung elastic recoil and hyperinflation burd...

Ventilator-associated pneumonia results from bacterial colonisation of the aerodigestive tract or aspiration of contaminated secretions into the lower airways. As a consequence of infection of the lung parenchyma and alveolitis, accumulation of inflammatory exudates and infiltration of airway mucosa can lead to unfavourable respiratory mechanics in ventilator-associated pneumonia. Tracheal suct...

Background: Forced expiratory volume 1 second (FEV1) has traditionally been used as a readily available marker of health in adult cystic fibrosis (CF). However, due to the obstructive nature of this disease, it is possible that lung hyperinflation could be more closely related to disease severity than is FEV1. The purpose of this study was to determine if hyperinflation is more closely associat...

Pulmonary hyperinflation is usually defined as an abnormal increase in functional residual capacity, i.e. lung volume at the end of tidal expiration. As such, it is virtually universal in patients with symptomatic diffuse airway obstruction. Hyperinflation inferred from a standard chest radiograph implies an increase in total lung capacity. The relaxation volume of the respiratory system (Vr) i...

Expiratory flow limitation is the pathophysiologic hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but dyspnea (breathlessness) is its most prominent and distressing symptom. Acute dynamic lung hyperinflation, which refers to the temporary increase in operating lung volumes above their resting value, is a key mechanistic consequence of expiratory flow limitation, and has serious mecha...

*Dept di Science Motorie, University of Genova, I-16132 Genova, Italy. +Division de Pneumologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland. Since the early studies with inert gas dilution techniques, it has been known that residual volume and functional residual capacity are increased in patients with pulmonary emphysema [1] or acute asthma [2]. These findings were...