Current asthma is often diagnostically excluded by the presence of normal bronchial responsiveness. We report on a TDI-induced occupational asthma patient with normal bronchial responsiveness. He had suffered from shortness of breath during and after TDI exposure for several months. His initial methacholine bronchial challenge test showed a negative response. The bronchoprovacation test with TD...

Occupational asthma among hairdressers has been recognised for some years and cases of work related asthma due to hair bleaches containing persulphates and hair dyes have been reported. The extent of the disease among hairdressers remains unknown. An investigation was carried out on an entire hairdressing salon, which specialised in hair bleaching and colouring and which employed 23 staff. On t...

BACKGROUND Bronchial provocation tests such as exercise, methacholine (MCH), and adenosine-5'-monophosphate (AMP) challenges are used extensively in the diagnosis of asthma. A study was undertaken to determine whether exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) can be used to diagnose asthma in patients with non-specific respiratory symptoms and to compare this test with conventional provocation tests. METHOD...

BACKGROUND Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), a characteristic feature of asthma, can be assessed through standardized bronchial provocation tests (BPT). Exercise as a BPT is used in diagnosing and monitoring exercise induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). Recently a novel osmotic BPT has been developed, using dry powder mannitol. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of t...

Bronchial challenge with direct stimuli, like histamine and methacholine, is very sensitive for diagnosing asthma and produces similar responses on a milligram-on-milligram or on a millimole-on-millimole basis [1–4]. American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS) guidelines have proposed measures in order to protect technicians performing these tests, which include the use o...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of single and multiple administrations of the ocular hypotensive drug latanoprost on respiratory function, asthma symptoms, and use of asthma medication in patients with bronchial asthma. METHODS Twenty-four stable patients with asthma (forced expiratory volume in 1 second: 70% to 90% of predicted and a minimum of 10% reversibility after inhalation of albuter...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To compare a new bronchial provocation test, the mannitol challenge, with cold air and histamine challenges to demonstrate airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in patients with difficult-to-diagnose asthma. DESIGN A prospective study. PARTICIPANTS Thirty-seven consecutive patients with recently diagnosed, steroid-naive, mild, or atypical asthma fulfilling the diagnostic criteri...