Bronchodilators and Corticosteroids in the Treatment of Obstructive Pulmonary Emphysema

Abstract

OBSTRUCTIVE pulmonary emphysema, as the term is used here, refers to a chronic progressive process manifested clinically by dyspnea, which most commonly makes its appearance in middle-aged or elderly males who have had no previous localized or diffuse chronic pulmonary disease and which has generally been regarded as of unknown etiology. In its advanced form, it has striking airway obstruction readily recognizable by a reduction in the maximal expiratory flow rate as the outstanding characteristic. A second common but not invariably prominent feature of the disease is chronic cough, often developing a number of years before the onset of obstructive . . .