Ventilatory mechanics in patients with bronchiectasis starting in childhood.

, , 304-312. The mechanics of ventilation have been studied in 69 children and young adults with bronchiectasis since childhood. Many were well with little disability and although symptoms had ameliorated in the second decade cough and sputum still persisted. This study suggests that many patients had generalized small airway disease, as demonstrated by abnormal maximum expiratory flow volume curves together with increased lung volumes and frequency dependence of dynamic compliance. A group of patients was found in whom compliant airways in the bronchiectatic segment may have been contributing to `slow space' emptying and air trapping. Postoperative function in those treated surgically related to the extent of persisting disease rather than to the resection itself. In the absence of persisting disease there were no significant changes in lung volumes or elastic recoil after resection of one or two lobes in childhood.