Clinicoradological profile in patients with bronchiectasis in a tertiary care center

Background
Bronchiectasis is a disease leading to severe disability among affected individuals yet remains under investigation. Bronchiectasis, a Greek word consisting of bronchial which means windpipe and ekstasis which means stretching out.


Methods
A descriptive, cross-sectional study was done in patients attending a tertiary care center, in whom there were typical clinical and radiological features of bronchiectasis. A brief clinical history was taken and computed tomography was done, in a calculated sample size of 65 patients.


Outcome
The study population had a mean age of 49.18 ± 12.86 years. There were 49.2% males and 50.8% females. Almost all patients had a symptom of cough associated with expectoration except for four patients in the study where there was no expectoration. Along with Cough with expectoration, there was Shortness of breath in 30.8% of patients and Hemoptysis was present in addition to cough and expectoration in 24.6% of patients. In 38.5% of patients, cough with expectoration was the sole symptom. In the history of the study population, 35.4% of the study population reported that they had no significant illness in the past. Another 35.4% of the study population had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis and 13.8% were cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A history of childhood pneumonia was reported in seven (10.8%) patients. On computed tomography, 41 patients had cystic bronchiectasis (63.1%), out of which 18.5% had cystic along with tubular bronchiectasis, and 10.8% had cystic along with varicoid bronchiectasis. Tubular bronchiectasis was the finding in 28 (43.1%) patients out of which tubular finding was combined with cystic in 18.5% of them. Traction and varicoid bronchiectasis were seen in 4.6% and 3.1%, respectively and both combined were seen in 3.1%.