Poster Presentation
American Thoracic Society Annual Conference 2020
Comparison of abnormal respiratory sounds and peak expiratory flow measurements in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Room with Acute Exacerbation of Asthma or COPD
Y. K. Au, T. Muqueem, V. Fauveau, P. Glasser, B. Geris, A. Cardenas, M. Glass, G. Hassen
What’s Inside?
This abstract examines the relationship between abnormal respiratory sounds and peak expiratory flow (PEF) in patients presenting to the emergency department with acute exacerbations of asthma or COPD. Forty patients were analyzed, with continuous auscultation performed using the RESP® Biosensor before and after bronchodilator and/or steroid treatment. Wheezes and coughs were manually counted by board-certified physicians and compared against predicted PEF values.
Among patients with post-treatment PEF measurements, more than half achieved PEF values above 70% of predicted, yet a significant portion showed no decrease in wheeze or cough counts. Specifically, 50% of patients with wheezes and 37% of patients with coughs did not demonstrate reductions in these sounds despite improved PEF.
These results suggest that continuous monitoring of abnormal lung sounds provides an independent marker of treatment response, complementing PEF and offering a more complete assessment of clinical improvement during acute asthma or COPD exacerbations.
