[Branching defects and mucosal diverticulosis of the bronchi in children as factors predisposing to the development of chronic inflammatory processes in the lungs].

Clinical and bronchographic data were juxtaposed with the results of selective histological examination of the resected parts of lungs from 3 to 14-year-old children suffering for several years from persistent cough and recurrent pneumonias. The defects of small and mean bronchi branching are found in 66% of cases (out of 50) and in 64% there was diverticulosis of the mucous membrane of large and small bronchi that is followed by pseudopoliposis and the development of deep "pouches". All this is followed by bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue hyperplasia, development of peribronchial pneumonia foci, chronic bronchitis, obturation syndrome.