[Differential diagnosis of obstruction--clinical aspects of obstructive lung diseases]

The term obstructive lung disease is applied to a group of diseases of different nosology and pathogenesis with the common feature of a characteristic disturbance of the respiratory function consisting in increased resistance of air flow with dyspnoea as the leading clinical symptom. With regard to a differentiated therapy, it is necessary to distinguish precisely between the entities chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, emphysema. Meticulous anamnesis, careful clinical examination, basic lung function tests, x-ray examination, electrocardiographic and laboratory examinations, and eventually bronchologic and allergologic methods are sufficient in outpatient and general internal hospital care for a reliable classification and differentiation from a broad spectrum of causes of obstructive symptomatology located outside from the airways.