Bronchial sounds are best heard over the body of the sternum.Ībnormal breath sounds are often indicators of pathology in the airways and include wheezing, crackle, rhonchi, stridor, and plural rub. Bronchovesicular breath sounds are best heard between the first and second intercostal spaces of the anterior chest. Tracheal sounds are heard best over the trachea and typically are louder and have a higher pitch than vesicular sounds. In airfilled lungs, vesicular breath sounds are commonly heard over the majority of the lung fields. Normal breath sounds can be heard throughout the lung fields in a healthy patient and are most often classified as 1 of 4 types: vesicular, tracheal, bron- chosvesicular, and bronchial. There is often confusion between breath and voice sounds breath sounds generate in the lungs whereas voice sounds generated in the larynx. During this process, Laënnec invented the stethoscope.īreath sounds are categorized as normal or abnormal and have 3 characteristics: intensity (soft, medium, loud, very loud), pitch (low, medium, high), and duration. René Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec established the link between a breath sound and an identifiable pathological change in the lungs. Auscultation, a technique that requires both clinical experience and a good stethoscope, dates back to the early 1800s. Tubular breath sounds are high pitched, bronchial breath sounds, seen in the following conditions: consolidation, pleural effusion, pulmonary fibrosis, distal collapse, and mediastinal tumor over a large patent bronchus.“Breath sounds” refer to the movement of air through the respiratory system and can be evaluated through auscultation of the lung fields. The absence of breath sounds should prompt the health care provider to consider shallow breath, abnormal anatomy or pathologic entities such as airway obstruction, bulla, hyperinflation, pneumothorax, pleural effusion or thickening, and obesity. Normal breath sounds have a frequency of approximately 100 Hz. The movement of air generates normal breath sounds through the large and small airways. The description of abnormal breathing sounds should be tagged with the location in which it was heard. For practical purposes, the lung can be divided into apical, middle and basilar regions during auscultation. Of note, the fremitus can also be auscultated and can be referred to as vocal fremitus.Īuscultation of the lungs should be systematic and follow a stepwise approach in which the examiner surveys all the lung zones. During palpation the examiner can evaluate tactile fremitus: the examiner will place both of his hands on the patient's back, medial to the shoulder blades, and ask the patient to say "ninety-nine." An increase in the tactile fremitus points towards an increased intraparenchymal density and a decreased fremitus hints towards a pleural process that separates the pleura from the parenchyma (pleural effusion, pneumothorax). Palpation should focus on detecting abnormalities like masses or bony crepitus. Thoracic spine abnormalities such as kyphosis and scoliosis could also be noted during physical examination of the chest. Barrel chest could also be present which consists in increased anterior-posterior diameter of the chest wall and is a normal finding in children, but it is suggestive of hyperinflation with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adults. Pectus carinatum is the exact opposite of pectus excavatum: in this anatomical abnormality, the sternum is protruding from the chest wall. The most common chest osseous abnormality is pectus excavatum where the sternum is depressed in to the chest cavity. Skeletal chest abnormalities should also be noted during the inspection. The position of the patient should also be noted, patients with extreme pulmonary dysfunction will often sit up-right, and in distress, they assume the tripod position (leaning forward, resting their hands on their knees).īreathing through pursed lips, often seen in cases of emphysema.Ībility to speak: patients that are unable to speak or become short of breath during the interview are likely to have a worse pulmonary function or reserve. The body habitus of the patient could provide information regarding chest compliance, especially in the case of severely obese patients were chest mobility, and compliance are reduced due to added weight from adipose tissue. The use of accessory breathing muscles (i.e., scalenes, sternocleidomastoid muscle, intercostal muscles) could point to excessive breathing effort caused by pathologies. During the inspection, the examiner should pay attention to the pattern of breathing: thoracic breathing, thoracoabdominal breathing, costal markings, and use of accessory breathing muscles.
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