Occasional review
Association of sputum parameters with clinical and functional measurements in asthma
Elisabetta Rosia, Giorgio Scanoa b
a Fondazione Don
C Gnocchi ONLUS, Pozzolatico, Firenze, Italy, b Department of Internal Medicine, Pulmonary
Section, University of Florence, Italy
Correspondence to: Professor G Scano, Fondazione Don C Gnocchi ONLUS, via Imprunetana 124, Pozzolatico Impruneta, Firenze, Italy
Received 16 November 1999; Accepted for publication 22 November 1999
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
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Introduction |
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Asthma is a clinical entity characterised by a combination of three features: airway obstruction with spontaneous and/or pharmacological reversibility, increased airway responsiveness (BHR), and airway inflammation.1 2 Asthma originates with airway inflammation which results in the pathological process and ultimately culminates in symptoms.2
Airway inflammation has been considered the primary event leading to
airway obstruction and hyperresponsiveness.2 The principal pathological features of asthma include thickening and disorganisation of the tissues of the airway wall with epithelial shedding, deposition of collagen under the basement membrane, hypertrophy/hyperplasia of the
smooth muscle, epithelial damage, occlusion of airways by secretion,
and infiltration of eosinophils and T lymphocytes.1 The
investigation into the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of
asthma has been hampered by difficulties in gaining direct access to
asthmatic airways for evaluating the inflammatory process. Until
recently it has not been possible in clinical practice to measure
inflammation directly, and the presence or absence of
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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Joos, G.F.
(2001). Do measures of bronchial responsiveness add information in diagnosis and monitoring of patients with asthma?. Eur Respir J
18: 439-441
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