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Respiratory sounds, also known as lung sounds or breath sounds, are the specific sounds generated by the movement of air through the respiratory system. [1] These may be easily audible or identified through auscultation of the respiratory system through the lung fields with a stethoscope as well as from the spectral characteristics of lung sounds. [2]
Bronchophony may be caused by a solidification of lung tissue around the bronchi – which may indicate lung cancer – or by fluid in the alveoli, which may indicate pneumonia. However, it may also have benign causes, such as wide bronchi. As such, it is usually an indication for further investigation rather than the main basis of a diagnosis.
A physical examination will often reveal decreased intensity of breath sounds, wheezing, rhonchi, and prolonged expiration. During examination, physicians rely on history and the presence of persistent or acute onset of cough, followed by a URTI with no traces of pneumonia.
Crackles are caused by explosive opening of small airways [7] and are discontinuous, [8] nonmusical, and brief. Crackles are more common during the inspiratory than the expiratory phase of breathing, but they may be heard during the expiratory phase.
Upon physical examination, breath sounds (heard with a stethoscope) may be diminished on the affected side, partly because air in the pleural space dampens the transmission of sound. Measures of the conduction of vocal vibrations to the surface of the chest may be altered.
Causes may include heart failure, kidney failure, narcotic poisoning, intracranial pressure, and hypoperfusion of the brain (particularly of the respiratory center). The pathophysiology of Cheyne–Stokes breathing can be summarized as apnea leading to increased CO 2 which causes excessive compensatory hyperventilation, in turn causing decreased CO 2 which causes apnea, restarting the cycle.
Hypoventilation is not synonymous with respiratory arrest, in which breathing ceases entirely and death occurs within minutes due to hypoxia and leads rapidly into complete anoxia, although both are medical emergencies. Hypoventilation can be considered a precursor to hypoxia, and its lethality is attributed to hypoxia with carbon dioxide toxicity.
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD; part of the spectrum of chronic lung disease of infancy) is a chronic lung disease which affects premature infants. Premature (preterm) infants who require treatment with supplemental oxygen or require long-term oxygen are at a higher risk. [ 1 ]