On the Beat 11/25/20 - Huxford Clinic on Bronchiectasis

Troy talks with Dr. Cameron Huxford of the OCH Huxford Clinic in Starkville about the condition known as bronchiectasis or abnormally dilated airways.

Troy thompson: welcome to on the beat everyone, i'm troy thompson.

Joining me today is dr. cameron huxford from och huxford clinic pulmonary sleep medicine.

Welcome to the show, buddy, nice to see you again.

Dr. huxford: always a pleasure to see you, troy, thanks for having me.

Troy thompson: of course, as always.

Now, we have a new topic that we're going to talk about today and you know i love having a new conversation, so i'm going to let you start it off.

What's the topic about and what is it called?

Dr. huxford: all right, first the condition is called bronchiectasis.

And that word means, and you can break it down.

Ectasis means abnormally dilated and bronchial is the airway.

So this is a condition of abnormally dilated airways.

The reason i'm bringing it up is because as we've done these for the last year or so, i'll have patients who want me to talk about their particular conditions to bring awareness to it.

So this is at the request of my dear friend in west point, he knows who he is.

Troy thompson: okay, so explain what it actually is, because it sounds quite involved.

Dr. huxford: yeah.

Well, most times people aren't going to know what it is, we diagnose them.

And they come in with a bad cough, it's usually the primary symptoms are cough and shortness of breath and the cough is usually a very productive one.

The patients are coughing up copious amount of thick discolored mucus.

And maybe they didn't smoke, they get diagnosed with clpd and that's not accurate because they don't smoke.

So they're sent to me for the abnormal cough and we ultimately diagnose this using x-rays and cat scans.

Troy thompson: so it's a lung condition, correct?

Dr. huxford: correct.

Yes, this is fairly common, fairly common.

Troy thompson: is it really?

Dr. huxford: yes.

Troy thompson: is it something mixed in with bronchitis?

Dr. huxford: flare ups of it can cause conditions that are similar to bronchitis, but it's kind of like bronchitis all the time.

Like they never get over it, they're just constantly coughing up this thick stuff.

Troy thompson: and what is that thick stuff?

Is it mucus from the lung or from the throat?

Dr. huxford: yes, from the lungs.

So there's glands in our airways that make mucus, and you know they help to when we breathe in bacteria and everything, that mucus kind of collects it and we call for swallow or something, we don't even think about it.

But when the airways get big like that, it disrupts the gland formation and so you get this excess mucus production.

That can harbor bacteria, so often these people with a bronchiectasis will keep respiratory infections.

It's hard for them to clear them.

So they're always going to the doctor, always getting diagnosed with something.

Troy thompson: and not with the actual condition.

Dr. huxford: right.

Troy thompson: because even though i've never heard of this and when i was reading the script, i thought it was bronchitis that you were talking about.

Now, let's talk a little bit about the treatments that people need to go in for.

Dr. huxford: well, oftentimes if this thing isn't dealt with early on, you can get these bacteria can become resistant to routine antibiotics.

And so we have to treat it aggressively.

Oftentimes, you know, antibiotics and some people with bronchiectasis will be on inhaled antibiotics, like a nebulized form of an antibiotic.

They can do that at home by themselves, they don't have to have iv's.

And oftentimes people will use a vest.

It looks like the lifevest, if you will, that if you were water skiing, but it percusses against your chest, it beats on your chest and helps you cough that stuff up.

That's very, very good.

Troy thompson: okay.

Now, is this a serious condition?

Is this life- threatening?

Dr. huxford: well, if not addressed, you increase your risk of having infections and you get bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, it can prove problematic, but if we get ahold of it early and start on the proper medicines, then it's something that we can maintain.

There's no cure for it.

Troy thompson: oh, i was about to say very quickly, is there a cure for it and how long before the symptoms go away once you've been diagnosed and on the right medications?

Dr. huxford: usually, sometimes you'll always have some symptoms, but usually within some months of appropriate therapy, you can improve.

Troy thompson: well as always, dr. huxford, you always give us great information, thank you so much.

Dr. huxford: thank you, troy.

Happy thanksgiving.

Troy thompson: and to you, sir.

If you want to find out more information, there it all is up on the screen for you.

Dr. hudson from och huxford clinic pulmonary sleep medicine.

Back after this short break.