Bronchial asthma is a heterogeneous respiratory condition. Unfortunately, it is hard to accurately identify because it can be mimicked by a wide range of pathologies including upper airways stenosis. In this study, the researchers reported a challenging case. The patient had a disorder that was characterized by the contemporaneous presence of a common disease, asthma, together with a rare respiratory disease, idiopathic tracheal stenosis.
The presenting case was of a 56-year-old female patient. She was a former smoker and was also referred to our outpatient clinic for exertional dyspnea and persistent wheezing. There were no other respiratory or systemic symptoms that she experienced in the past 3 months, and a psychological component was suspected. Asthma was confirmed after proper diagnosis, the combination of the anti-inflammatory corticosteroid fluticasone and the rapid-acting bronchodilator formoterol in a single inhaler effectively controlled the patient’s symptoms. This was thus confirming the favorable efficacy and safety profile which are reflected in the recommendations of the international guidelines.
The study described through its findings that the clinical investigations and interventions that eventually confirmed a diagnosis of asthma complicated by idiopathic tracheal stenosis and led to effective treatment of the patient. Awareness of fixation error may avoid misdiagnosis in patients with respiratory disease and complicated history at presentation.
Reference: https://clinicalmolecularallergy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12948-017-0060-9
