All that wheezes is not asthma: the value of curves
- Leigh M Seccombe1,2,
- Liam Polley1,
- Peter G Rogers1,
- Alvin J Ing1,2
- 1Department of Thoracic Medicine, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- 2Australian School of Advanced Medicine, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Correspondence to Ms Leigh M Seccombe, Department of Thoracic Medicine, Level 7 West, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Hospital Rd., Concord, Sydney, NSW 2139, Australia; leigh.seccombe{at}sswahs.nsw.gov.au
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Contributors All authors contributed to the conception, design, analysis and interpretation of data, carried out critical appraisal of the manuscript, and approved the final version to be published.
- Pulmonary physiology
- exercise
- imaging/CT MRI etc
- lung physiology
- bronchoscopy
- cough/mechanisms/pharmacology
- lung volume reduction surgery
Clinical presentation
A 64-year-old woman, never smoker, with a history of fully treated tuberculosis at 20 years of age attended our department for lung function testing. She had recently experienced several episodes of intermittent breathlessness and wheeze presumed to be due to asthma and was referred to a respiratory physician following an emergency department visit during one of these episodes. She did not have any recent weight loss, night sweats, purulent sputum or haemoptysis. Her dyspnoea and wheeze (inspiratory and expiratory) had been refractory to inhaled corticosteroids and both short and long acting β2 agonists.
Lung function using American …
