Selective alveolo-bronchography in chronic pulmonary emphysema.

A new method of bronchography, selective alveolo-bronchography (SAB), was described and recommended for clinical use in establishing correct clinical di agnosis of emphysema. The diagnosis of emphysema was made possible on the basis of morphologic findings in SAB. Further it was possible not only to differentiate emphysema from other chronic obstructive lung diseases, but also to distinguish the two types, centrilobular or panacinar, and to evaluate the grade of emphysema. In the final clinical assessment of these diseases the findings of SAB should be of course supplemented by clinical symptoms including the results of pulmonary function tests. We think that the present method contributes much to excluding the current confusion in the terminology of chronic obstructive lung diseases and is quite helpful to chest physicians, who have been aware of the difficulty in identi fying these diseases.