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Chest XRay in AsthmaAka: Asthma Related Chest Radiography

Indications
1. Initial Asthma diagnosis
2. Low yield in acute Asthma exacerbations
  1. Abnormal findings at presentation: 5%
  2. Abnormal findings if no improvement in 12 hours: 34%
3. Status Asthmaticus or no acute Asthma improvement
  1. Excludes other diagnoses
    1. Congestive Heart Failure
    2. Pneumonia
  2. Excludes complications
    1. Pneumothorax
    2. Pneumomediastinum
Findings
1. Increased bronchial wall markings (most characteristic)
  1. Associated with thicker bronchial wall, inflammation
2. Flattening of diaphragm
  1. Associated with chronic inflammation
  2. Associated with accessory muscle use
3. Hyperinflation (variably present)
4. Patchy infiltrates (variably present) from Atelectasis

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 5/10/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.