Bronchiectasis is a long-term lung condition where the airways of the lungs become abnormally widened, leading to a build-up of excess mucus.
This in turn can make the airways of the lungs more vulnerable to infection.
The most common symptom of bronchiectasis include:
- a persistent cough that usually brings up sputum (phlegm)
- breathlessness
- coughing up or spitting out blood
Symptoms can vary widely. Some people have only a few symptoms that don’t appear often, while others have wide-ranging symptoms that occur daily.
Read more about the symptoms of bronchiectasis.
The lungs are full of tiny branching airways, known as the bronchi, whose role is to move oxygen into even smaller sacs called alveoli, which transfer the oxygen into the blood so it can then be transported around the body.
The lining of the bronchi are coated with a sticky fluid called mucus (the same fluid that can come out of your nose when you sneeze), which protects against particles moving down into the lungs and damaging them.
With bronchiectasis, one or more of the bronchi become abnormally widened. This can then trigger a vicious circle of mucus gathering in the bronchi, making them prone to infection and further widening the bronchi, leading to a build-up of more mucus.
During an infection, the symptoms of bronchiectasis will usually get worse.
Causes
Bronchiectasis has a wide range of possible causes. The three most commonly reported causes in England are:
- The bronchi became damaged due to a previous childhood lung infection.
- Underlying problems with the immune system (the body’s defence against infection) has led to the bronchi becoming damaged due to infection, or in some cases, they have mistakenly been attacked by the immune system.
- The patient has allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) – an allergy to a certain type of fungi that damages the lungs.
However, in over half of all cases of bronchiectasis no obvious reason can be found to explain why the bronchi became widened.
Read more about the possible causes of bronchiectasis.
Treatment
Treatment for bronchiectasis involves using a number of different methods to help improve symptoms and quality of life, such as:
- medication to help improve airflow within the lungs
- physiotherapy and exercise to help clear the lungs of mucus
- antibiotics, when necessary, to treat infection
If an infection is severe you may be admitted to hospital as a precaution.
Surgery is occasionally used when other treatments fail to improve symptoms, although not everyone is a suitable candidate for surgery.
Read more about the treatment of bronchiectasis.
Complications
Complications of bronchiectasis are rare but when they do occur they can be serious. Probably one of the most serious complications is coughing up large amounts of blood which can be life-threatening and require emergency surgery to treat.
Read more about the complications of bronchiectasis.
Who is affected?
Bronchiectasis is thought to be relatively rare and can affect anyone at any age.
One estimate is that around 1 in every 1,000 adults and 1 in every 10,000 children have bronchiectasis in England. Around 9,000 people are admitted to hospital each year due to problems arising from bronchiectasis.
Outlook
The outlook can be highly variable and often depends on the underlying cause.
For most people the outlook is good, although living with bronchiectasis can be distressing and frustrating.
In people with very severe symptoms, bronchiectasis can disrupt normal lung function, which can sometimes be fatal.
In 2010, there were just over 1,000 deaths reported in England and Wales where bronchiectasis was thought to be an underlying factor.
- Lungs
- Lungs are a pair of organs in the chest that control breathing. They remove carbon dioxide from the blood and replace it with oxygen.
- Bacteria
- Bacteria are tiny, single-celled organisms that live in the body. Some can cause illness and disease and some others are good for you.