Trigger Mechanisms in Asthma

¹ Thoracic Surgeon, New England Deaconess Hospital and New England Baptist Hospital, Boston. Director, Overholt Thoracic Clinic.

1. Intractable asthma may be perpetuated by structural abnormalities in bronchopulmonary segments which act as "trigger mechanisms."

2. Bronchography, if carefully done, is safe and often productive of useful circumstantial information necessary for successful management.

3. Surgical exploration permits direct inspection of the lung and testing of segments as to inflow and egress of air. Mechanical defects can be corrected forthwith and sympathetic, parasympathetic or both denervations carried out simultaneously.