Logo image
Back
A young man with dyspnoea and audible expiration: the loops never lie
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A young man with dyspnoea and audible expiration: the loops never lie

Hisham Taher, Megan Samuelson, Brian Gehlbach and Thomas Gross
Breathe (Lausanne, Switzerland), Vol.12(2), pp.159-163
06/2016
DOI: 10.1183/20734735.007015
PMCID: PMC4933619
PMID: 27408634
url
https://doi.org/10.1183/20734735.007015View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

A 28-year-old Asian man noted the insidious onset of exertional dyspnoea over a 4-month period. This was associated with an intermittent dry cough and expiratory wheezing noted only with exercise. He noted no specific aggravating or ­alleviating factors and denied associated haemoptysis, chest pains, acid reflux, or systemic findings such as fever, sweats or weight loss. He had no prior history of childhood asthma. He was a full-time student without a recent change in environmental or occupational exposures. He denied choking while eating or drinking, changes in his voice or exposure to ill contacts. Evaluation by his primary care provider included a normal physical examination and a normal chest radiograph (figure 1). Spirometry was interpreted as showing a moderately severe obstructive defect (figure 2; initial presentation). There was no reversibility with bronchodilator (not shown). Spirometry provides clues to solving this puzzle of dyspnoea and wheeze in a young nonsmoker—the loops never lie! http://ow.ly/YC9zI A 10 s recording of expiratory sounds from this case can be found at: http://ow.ly/UVVu300moD1
 Expert Opinion

Details

Metrics

83 Record Views
Logo image