Study of bronchiectasis phenotype and the common pathogens involved in late COPD stages

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis have many common characteristics from the physiopathologic and clinical points of view. Reviewing literature showed presence of a linear relationship between the appearance of bronchiectasis and the severity of COPD, with a higher prevalence of bronchiectasis in patients with COPD above that of the general population. Patients and methods The study included 60 male patients who smoked, ranging in age from 47 to 80 years old, with mean age of 59.37±7.87 years, and who were diagnosed with COPD according to the national standard. They were classified according to severity of airway obstruction using spirometric measurements and underwent high-resolution tomographic scan; moreover, sputum samples were collected for bacterial culture. Results The present study included 60 cases; all were male patients who smoked. Among the studied population, bronchiectasis was found in 56.7%, with more in severe cases. Conclusion Bronchiectasis had higher prevalence in patients with moderate to severe COPD. This was also associated with colonization of airways with pathogenic micro-organisms.