Experience with bronchiectasis in Nigeria.

Between April 1975 and March 1978, 54 patients were treated for bronchiectasis at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. The sex distribution was equal and ages of the patients ranged from five to 67 years with a peak incidence of the disease in the third and fourth decades of life.One third of the patients had tuberculous bronchiectasis with destroyed left lung syndrome, another third had chronic sinusitis, while nine percent had sickle cell hemoglobinopathy. One case of Kartagener syndrome, pulmonary aspergillosis, poliomyelitis, and aspiration of a foreign body were associated with bronchiectasis.Factors influencing the clinical course and prognosis of this disease in this environment include life threatening hemoptysis, bilateral disease, associated lung abscess or empyema, malnutrition, and chronic anemia.Twenty-six patients were treated conservatively with one death, while 28 patients were treated surgically with three deaths. Twenty percent of the surgical patients developed recurrent bronchiectasis within one to 31/2 years, in lobes which were bronchographically free of disease prior to surgery. These findings suggest that bronchiectasis is a progressive disease and that elective surgery for localized disease probably does not affect its clinical and natural history in this environment.