431 articles
Amoebic lung abscess
Amoebic lung abscess (ICD-10 A06.5, ICD-11 1A36.11), pus cavity in lung from Entamoeba histolytica, usually by direct spread of amebic liver abscess through the diaphragm; treated with metronidazole.
Aphonia
Aphonia is complete loss of voice, also called loss of voice or mutational voice loss, distinct from dysphonia. Causes include phonotrauma, muscle tension, and psychogenic conversion aphonia; treated mainly with voice therapy by speech-language pathologists.
Apnea
Apnea, from Greek apnous (breathless), is a temporary cessation of breathing; recurrent sleep apnea occurs as obstructive (airway collapse) or central (lost brain signaling) types, scored as ≥90% airflow drops lasting ≥10 seconds, treated mainly with CPAP.
Apnea of prematurity
Apnea of prematurity (AOP) is a developmental disorder in preterm infants, defined by breathing pauses of 20 seconds or longer. It is commonly treated with caffeine and CPAP.
Apnoea
Apnoea (American spelling apnea) is the temporary cessation of breathing. In clinical medicine it chiefly means repeated breathing pauses during sleep, divided into obstructive, central, and mixed types.
Asbestosis
Asbestosis, also called asbestos pneumoconiosis, is incurable lung fibrosis from inhaled asbestos fibers, appearing 20-30 years after exposure; treated supportively with oxygen, rehabilitation, and vaccinations.
ASCEND trial
ASCEND (NCT01366209) was the 2014 phase 3 trial of pirfenidone 2403 mg/day in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; it met its FVC primary endpoint and, pooled with CAPACITY, showed 48% lower 1-year mortality.
Aspergillosis
Aspergillosis, disease from inhaled Aspergillus mold spores; forms include ABPA, chronic pulmonary, and invasive aspergillosis; A. fumigatus is the main cause; triazoles treat it; azole resistance is emerging.
Aspergillus bronchitis
Aspergillus bronchitis (ICD-11 1F20.14) is a chronic superficial infection of the larger airways by Aspergillus, mainly in bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis patients without major immunocompromise, diagnosed by repeated positive cultures or PCR, elevated Aspergillus IgG, and exclusion of ABPA and CPA.
Asphyxia
Asphyxia: oxygen deprivation with carbon dioxide retention, from drowning, strangulation, choking, positional restraint, or birth asphyxia; unconsciousness in 2–3 minutes, brain injury in 4–6, asystolic arrest.
Asphyxiation
Asphyxiation, also called asphyxia or suffocation, is oxygen deprivation from blocked breathing, neck compression, drowning, or vitiated atmospheres; forensic subtypes include strangulation, hanging, choking, and positional asphyxia.
Aspiration pneumonia
Aspiration pneumonia: bacterial lung infection from inhaled oropharyngeal secretions, distinct from chemical aspiration pneumonitis (Mendelson's syndrome). Common in older adults with dysphagia; guidelines now advise against routine anaerobic antibiotic coverage unless abscess or empyema is suspected.
Asthma
Asthma, a chronic inflammatory airway disease causing wheeze, breathlessness, and variable airflow limitation, affects an estimated 363 million people; managed with ICS-containing inhalers per GINA guidelines and biologics for severe cases.
Asthmatic pulmonary eosinophilia
Asthmatic pulmonary eosinophilia, also called eosinophilic asthma (ICD-11 CB02.0), is pulmonary eosinophilia associated with asthma, classically fungal hypersensitivity to Aspergillus, marked by wheeze, migratory infiltrates, and blood and sputum eosinophilia.
Ataxic breathing
Ataxic breathing (Biot's respiration, respiratory ataxia), ICD-11 MD11.2: a completely irregular breathing pattern with variable rate and depth and unpredictable apneic pauses, usually progressing to apnoea; caused by medullary and lower brainstem lesions, meningitis, raised intracranial pressure, or opioids.
Atelectasis
Atelectasis, or partial lung collapse, is reversible loss of lung volume from airway obstruction, compression, hypoventilation, or surfactant impairment; common after anesthesia, diagnosed by chest x-ray or CT, treated with lung expansion and cause-directed care.
Atypical cystic fibrosis
Atypical cystic fibrosis (non-classic CF), a milder CFTR-mutation disease affecting about 2% of CF patients, with pancreatic sufficiency, borderline sweat chloride, or single-organ disease, often diagnosed in adolescence or adulthood.
Atypical pneumonia
Atypical pneumonia: pneumonia from organisms like Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, and Legionella, with systemic symptoms, interstitial infiltrates, and beta-lactam resistance; also called walking pneumonia.
Autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis
Autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP), formerly idiopathic PAP, is a rare lung disease caused by GM-CSF autoantibodies that block alveolar macrophage surfactant clearance; treated with whole lung lavage and inhaled GM-CSF.
Bacterial pneumonia
Bacterial pneumonia, a lung infection in which bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae invade the alveoli; leading infectious killer of children, treated with antibiotics like amoxicillin, prevented by pneumococcal vaccines.
Bagassosis
Bagassosis, also known as bagasse disease or bagasse workers' lung, is a hypersensitivity pneumonitis of the lungs caused by inhaling dust from stored bagasse, the fibrous residue of sugar cane.
Benign neoplasm of hypopharynx
Benign neoplasm of hypopharynx (ICD-11 2E90.7, ICD-10 D10.7): non-cancerous tumors of the lower throat, including lymphoepithelial cysts, papillomas, lipomas, fibrovascular polyps, schwannoma, and granular cell tumor, treated by endoscopic or open excision.
Benign neoplasm of nasopharynx
Benign neoplasm of nasopharynx (ICD-11 2E90.6), also called benign tumour of epipharynx or postnasal space: a non-metastasizing nasopharyngeal growth, most often juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma in adolescent males, treated surgically.
Bird fancier lung
Bird fancier lung (BFL), or pigeon breeder's lung, avian hypersensitivity pneumonitis: immune lung disease from inhaled bird proteins in droppings, feathers, serum; treated mainly by antigen avoidance.
Bronchial neuroendocrine tumor
Bronchial neuroendocrine tumor, also called bronchial carcinoid, is a rare tumor arising from neuroendocrine cells of the bronchopulmonary tract, spanning grades from typical to atypical carcinoid.
Bronchiectasis
Bronchiectasis: chronic lung disease with permanent bronchial widening on CT, causing cough, sputum, and recurrent infections; managed with airway clearance, antibiotics, and rehabilitation per ERS 2025 guidelines.
Bronchiolitis
Bronchiolitis, viral inflammation of the small airways in infants under two, mainly caused by RSV; clinical diagnosis, supportive care, and prevention by maternal RSV vaccine or infant nirsevimab or clesrovimab.
Bronchiolitis obliterans
Bronchiolitis obliterans, also called popcorn lung or obliterative bronchiolitis, is a rare, irreversible lung disease that scars the small airways; causes include childhood infections, transplant rejection, and diacetyl exposure.
Bronchitis
Bronchitis: inflammation of the lung airways, usually infectious. Acute bronchitis (chest cold) is viral, self-limiting under 3 weeks, antibiotics not advised; chronic bronchitis (cough/sputum 3 months yearly for 2 years) is part of COPD.
Bronchoconstriction
Bronchoconstriction is airway narrowing from bronchial smooth muscle contraction, central to asthma and to exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB), diagnosed by a ≥10% fall in FEV1 and treated with pre-exercise inhaled short-acting beta-2-agonists.