Management Of Asthma Part 1 | drbeen

About This Video

In this part of the clinical approach to asthma we will discuss the background to asthma. That includes:

  • Background
    • Asthma vs COPD
      • Reversibility in asthma
      • Difficulty to manage when asthma is chronic
      • Varying airflow obstruction
    •  Need to prevent remodeling of the lung tissue while managing asthma.
    • Higher prevalence of asthma in affluent countries.
    • Peak age for asthma (3 years of age)
    • Gender in childhood is predominantly boys, however, the gender difference goes away in adults.
    • Asthma by itself is not a fatal disease, however, asthma related deaths can occur due to the underlying inflammation and tissue damage.
    • The basic principle of the management is to control the inflammation - not just the symptoms.
    • Why did the mere use of beta agonists actually increased deaths in the asthma patients? (happened in 1960)
    Risk Factors
    • Atopy (Antigen vs. allergen)
    • Infections
    • Diet
    • Air Pollution
    • Occupational exposure
    Triggers
    • Why does laughing and coughing trigger asthma?
    • Role of the mast cells in triggering asthma.
    • Nerve irritation leading to the asthma.
    • Beta blockers (can be fatal.)
    • Exercise. Why does exercise trigger asthma?
    • Cold air, hyperventilation
    • Food
    • Air pollution
    • Occupational factors
    • Hormones (some women before periods can have attacks of asthma.)
    • Gastroeosphageal reflux
    • Stress. Why will stress cause asthma?
    Pathophysiology of asthma
    • Airway inflammation
    • Airway hyper-responsiveness
    • Epithelial shedding due to irritation and inflammation.
      • Loss of epithelium derived nitric oxide.
      • Protection mechanism disappears leading to nerve exposure and nerve irritation.
      • Thickening of the basement membrane leading to irreversibility/difficulty in management. 
      Airway smooth muscle changes
      • Beta receptor decoupling
      • Hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the airway smooth muscles
      Vascular changes
      • Increased blood vessels.
      • More blood flow.
      • Edema
      • Inflammation
      • Swelling
      • Increased mucus secretion
      Mucus hypersecretion
      • Result of chronic irritation and inflammation
    Diagnosis
    • Pulmonary function tests and the changes
    • Inhaled SABA based testing to confirm asthma.
    • Blood IgE tests
    • Imaging
    • Skin tests
    • Exhaled nitric oxide (NO)

Instructor

Dr. Mobeen Syed

Dr. Mobeen Syed

Mobeen Syed M.D, MS Graduated from King Edward Medical University. Entrepreneur, Medical Educator, CEO and founder of Drbeen corp.