Childhood Bronchiectasis

¹ The Pulmonary Diseases Section of St. Anthony's Hospital.

Bronchiectasis cases are subdivided into different groups. 1. Those due to obvious causes. 2. Those for which no cause can be determined. The first group includes bronchial dilatations in bronchostenotic and fibrotic pulmonary processes. In the second group the cause is not so obvious and the writer terms the condition simple bronchiectasis. In this group it cannot be established whether constitutional factors in the form of allergic diathesis play a part in genesis.

The writer believes that virus pneumonia is a factor in genesis. Congenital bronchiectasis is uncommon. Two hundred twenty-one cases of bronchiectasîs in children are discussed of which 176 were operated or treated surgically. The operative mortality was 2.3 per cent. The results obtained could be considered good in 90 per cent of the cases, and poor in 4 per cent. Surgical treatment should be seriously considered if the disease is found to be irreversible after a sufficiently long observation period and if there are obvious clinical complaints.