Emphysema is defined as “a condition of the lung  characterized by abnormal permanent enlarge­ment of the airspaces distal to the terminal bronchi­oles, accompanied by destruction of their walls, and without obvious fibrosis. Computed tomography has been shown to be a sensitive technique in evaluating the presence and severity of emphysema. On CT, emphysema is characterized [...]

The mechanism of ventilatory impairment at maxi­mal exercise in COPD cannot be stated with certainty, although the preponderance of evidence indicates that diaphragmatic fatigue is not the major limiting factor. In the present study the lack of a tachypneic response during recovery suggests that diaphragmatic fatigue was not present, which is consistent with the findings [...]

Spirometric and Vo,^ values were within normal limits in the control group (Table 1). In the patients with COPD, mean FEVi was 43 percent of predicted (SD, 15 percent), and Voa was significantly reduced at 15.9 ml/kg/min (SD, 3.25 ml/kg/min; p<0.001 vs controls).

Patients with COPD (n = 16) were recruited from the outpatient department of the Albuquerque VA Medical Center for participation in this study. All were clinically stable and had not had an exacerbation of their disease for at least six weeks prior to study. In all patients, arterial blood gas analysis at rest revealed oxygen [...]

To patients with COPD, exercise performance is limited by reduced ventilatory capacity. Al­though many studies have documented the correlation between reduced work capacity and spirometric in­dices of airflow obstruction, recovery from exercise has received little attention in COPD. The metabolic cost of exercise involves not only the performance of external work, but the demands of [...]

The diagnosis of drug-induced pneumonitis is always difficult, and it may have justified the need for pulmonary biopsy. However, the histologic findings are rarely specific. In our patient, the variations of cellular data obtained by BAL after resumption of treatment with the drug are of diagnostic interest as it was found that lymphocytosis and inversion [...]

The LMI curves obtained in the four types of cell suspensions are shown in the Figure. A bell-shaped curve of LMI in presence of low concentrations of propranolol, situated between log-5 and log 0 is present only in the suspension containing the patients lymphocytes. The peak inhibition at 10~3 fig^d (3.38 x 10 е M) [...]