Breath sounds analysis: clinical aplications in children

Abstract

Breath sounds research has been very active over the past few years, with many groups working in the field. The objective of this paper was to review the nonemclature, equipment used and the clinical applications of this methodology. Along with normal lung and traqueal sounds, a review of wheeze, crackles, snoring and stridor characteristics are presented. The main clinical applications are: evaluation of the upper airway anatomy and lung function studies, obstructive slep apnoea screening, evaluation of recurrent wheezy infants and broncho-provocation challenge testing in preschool children, regional ventilation studies and distance breath sound transmission for diagnostic and teaching purposes. In the future, smaller and cheaper instruments will be developed, that together with spirometric lung testing will give valuable information in childhood pulmonary studies.