Chest
Clinical InvestigationsAspiration of Solid Food Particles Into Lungs of Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux and Chronic Bronchial Disease
Section snippets
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Thirty-two patients (19 men, 13 women) were included in the study on an outpatient basis, from October 1, 1983 to September 30, 1984. Their ages ranged from 23 to 81 yr (mean 57.8). Fourteen patients complained of chronic bronchitis, ten had a recurring cough for which no cause (including postnasal drip) was found,13 four had asthma, three were suffering from nocturnal noncardiogenic dyspnea, and one had had recurrent pulmonary infections since surgical treatment for congenital esophageal
RESULTS
Chest x-ray film findings were normal in patients and control subjects. Sixteen patients had sinus films showing evidence of past sinusitis. FEV1 below 80 percent of predicted value was observed in 29 patients (90 percent). There was no ventilatory impairment in control subjects. Vegetal fibers were found in sputum smears in 23 patients (72 percent) and in ten control subjects (77 percent). One patient and none of the control group had vegetal fibers in the rinsing liquid of the oral cavity.
DISCUSSION
Effective pulmonary defense mechanisms protect individuals from untoward consequences of aspiration into the respiratory tract of oropharyngeal secretions,16 which seems to be a frequent phenomenon in normal subjects during sleep.17 As a matter of fact, vegetal fibers were evidenced in sputum smears from control subjects (77 percent), as well as from patients (72 percent). Yet, only one patient and none of the control subjects had vegetal fibers in the rinsing liquid of the mouth obtained early
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to R. Vejdosky, MD, for cytologic examination, to Mrs. A. Bischof-Delaloye MD, for performing the scintiscans, to Prof. PE Pilet, and to JJ Gonvers, MD for advice.
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