Biomaterial Database

Diagnostic problems in lower respiratory tract infections. 1993

H Lode, and T Schaberg, and M Raffenberg, and H Mauch

Department of Chest and Infectious Diseases, City Hospital Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany.

The main problems of diagnosis in lower respiratory tract infection are the differentiation of infection from colonization or contamination, and the isolation of a reliable and true pathogen. The clinical findings and differentiation of patients into those with pneumonia or infective exacerbations of chronic bronchitis should provide a definitive early diagnosis. Expectorated sputum may be unreliable in pneumonia, because of contamination by oropharyngeal flora. Although blood cultures may be negative, they provide a precise diagnosis and should be obtained in all pneumonias admitted to hospital. Other more invasive procedures are transtracheal needle aspiration, fibrebronchoscopic techniques including protected specimen brush and bronchoalveolar lavage with quantitative culturing and cytological analysis, transthoracic needle aspiration, thoracoscopy--guided biopsy and open lung biopsy. Any invasive procedure in a severely ill patient should be carefully directed weighing the risks as well as the benefits, whilst taking the underlying disease and expected survival into consideration.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011014	Pneumonia	Infection of the lung often accompanied by inflammation.	Experimental Lung Inflammation,Lobar Pneumonia,Lung Inflammation,Pneumonia, Lobar,Pneumonitis,Pulmonary Inflammation,Experimental Lung Inflammations,Inflammation, Experimental Lung,Inflammation, Lung,Inflammation, Pulmonary,Inflammations, Lung,Inflammations, Pulmonary,Lobar Pneumonias,Lung Inflammation, Experimental,Lung Inflammations,Lung Inflammations, Experimental,Pneumonias,Pneumonias, Lobar,Pneumonitides,Pulmonary Inflammations
D012141	Respiratory Tract Infections	Invasion of the host RESPIRATORY SYSTEM by microorganisms, usually leading to pathological processes or diseases.	Respiratory System Infections,Upper Respiratory Tract Infection,Upper Respiratory Tract Infections,Infections, Respiratory,Infections, Respiratory Tract,Infections, Upper Respiratory,Infections, Upper Respiratory Tract,Respiratory Infections,Upper Respiratory Infections,Infection, Respiratory System,Infection, Respiratory Tract,Respiratory Infection, Upper,Respiratory System Infection,Respiratory Tract Infection
D001991	Bronchitis	Inflammation of the large airways in the lung including any part of the BRONCHI, from the PRIMARY BRONCHI to the TERTIARY BRONCHI.	Bronchitides
D001992	Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid	Washing liquid obtained from irrigation of the lung, including the BRONCHI and the PULMONARY ALVEOLI. It is generally used to assess biochemical, inflammatory, or infection status of the lung.	Alveolar Lavage Fluid,Bronchial Lavage Fluid,Lung Lavage Fluid,Bronchial Alveolar Lavage Fluid,Lavage Fluid, Bronchial,Lavage Fluid, Lung,Pulmonary Lavage Fluid,Alveolar Lavage Fluids,Bronchial Lavage Fluids,Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluids,Lavage Fluid, Alveolar,Lavage Fluid, Bronchoalveolar,Lavage Fluid, Pulmonary,Lavage Fluids, Alveolar,Lavage Fluids, Bronchial,Lavage Fluids, Bronchoalveolar,Lavage Fluids, Lung,Lavage Fluids, Pulmonary,Lung Lavage Fluids,Pulmonary Lavage Fluids
D001999	Bronchoscopy	Endoscopic examination, therapy or surgery of the bronchi.	Bronchoscopic Surgical Procedures,Surgical Procedures, Bronchoscopic,Bronchoscopic Surgery,Surgery, Bronchoscopic,Bronchoscopic Surgeries,Bronchoscopic Surgical Procedure,Bronchoscopies,Surgeries, Bronchoscopic,Surgical Procedure, Bronchoscopic
D002908	Chronic Disease	Diseases which have one or more of the following characteristics: they are permanent, leave residual disability, are caused by nonreversible pathological alteration, require special training of the patient for rehabilitation, or may be expected to require a long period of supervision, observation, or care (Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed). For epidemiological studies chronic disease often includes HEART DISEASES; STROKE; CANCER; and diabetes (DIABETES MELLITUS, TYPE 2).	Chronic Condition,Chronic Illness,Chronically Ill,Chronic Conditions,Chronic Diseases,Chronic Illnesses,Condition, Chronic,Disease, Chronic,Illness, Chronic
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D001424	Bacterial Infections	Infections by bacteria, general or unspecified.	Bacterial Disease,Bacterial Infection,Infection, Bacterial,Infections, Bacterial,Bacterial Diseases
D001431	Bacteriological Techniques	Techniques used in studying bacteria.	Bacteriologic Technic,Bacteriologic Technics,Bacteriologic Techniques,Bacteriological Technique,Technic, Bacteriological,Technics, Bacteriological,Technique, Bacteriological,Techniques, Bacteriological,Bacteriologic Technique,Bacteriological Technic,Bacteriological Technics,Technic, Bacteriologic,Technics, Bacteriologic,Technique, Bacteriologic,Techniques, Bacteriologic