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Toggle: English / SpanishBronchiectasis - Symptom
Alternative Names
Acquired bronchiectasis; Congenital bronchiectasis
Symptoms:
Symptoms often develop gradually, and may occur months or years after the event that causes the bronchiectasis.
They may include:
- Bluish skin color
- Breath odor
- Chronic cough with large amounts of foul-smelling sputum
- Clubbing of fingers
- Coughing up blood
- Cough that gets worse when lying on one side
- Fatigue
- Paleness
- Shortness of breath that gets worse with exercise
- Weight loss
- Wheezing
Signs and tests:
When listening to the chest with a stethoscope, the doctor may hear small clicking, bubbling, wheezing, rattling, or other sounds, usually in the lower lobes of the lungs.
Tests may include:
- Aspergillosis precipitin test (to check for signs of the aspergillosis fungus)
- Chest x-ray
- Chest CT
- Sputum culture
- Complete blood count (CBC)
- PPD skin test to check for a prior tuberculosis infection
- Serum immunoglobulin electrophoresis
- Sweat test or other cystic fibrosis testing
- Reviewed last on: 9/24/2008
- Benjamin Medoff, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
References
Barker AF. Bronchiectasis, atelectasis, cysts, and localized lung disorders. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 90.
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