CHRONIC SPUTUM PRODUCTION - CORRELATIONS BETWEEN CLINICAL-FEATURES AND FINDINGS ON HIGH-RESOLUTION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC SCANNING OF THE CHEST

Background - There are few published data on the correlation between t he clinical findings in subjects with chronic sputum production and th e appearances on high resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) scans of the chest. Methods - HRCT scanning of the chest was performed on 40 su bjects with chronic sputum production. Three readers independently rep orted the scans for the presence or absence of bronchiectasis and the extent of bronchiectasis on the basis of the percentage of involved br onchi in each lobe. Relationships were sought between these findings a nd the clinical history, physical examination, and laboratory investig ations. Results - HRCT scanning showed that 27 subjects had bronchiect asis. Of the clinical features only the continual production of purule nt sputum and childhood pertussis were associated with bronchiectasis. There was a positive correlation between the extent of bronchiectasis and dyspnoea, and a negative correlation with forced expiratory volum e in one second but not with forced vital capacity. Conclusions - Thes e results indicate that, in subjects with chronic sputum production, o nly a few clinical features show any correlation with the presence or extent of bronchiectasis as visualised on HRCT scans.