Pathogenesis of Bronchiectasis

On the basis of data supplied by anatomic, clinical and physlopathological study, on a large number of “bronchectasies,” the authors have endeavored to determine, thru experimentation on dogs, the respective part of bronchial stenosis, circulatory modifications and nervous alterations in the genesis of bronchial dilatation. A first group of experiments including several types of non stenosing endobronchial irritations, leads them to deny the part played by the stenosis and to consider “bronchectasies” as the consequence of circulatory perturbations and nervous alterations. The two other groups of experiments serve to define the part played by each of these factors. After analyzing the facts which were observed, it is possible to think that the nervous factors are intimately linked with the distension mechanism and that the parieto-bronchial and pulmonary changes are the result of circulatory perturbations.