What is a good respiratory disease to do a research paper on?

Question

Ok respiratory therapists help a newbie out. I have to do a research paper on a disease related to the respiratory system. Of course all the biggies are taken. Any suggestions?
Thanks alot
RT student from Iowa~

copd,asthma, cf,etc are all taken. i am looking for something less known

Answer 1

I'm not a respiratory therapist but rather a professional patient...LOL If you want to do a good reasearch paper on a disease relating to the respiratory system, I'd like to suggest primary ciliary dyskinesia. It's a recessive genetic disorder. You may also have heard of it referred to as Kartageners syndrome or immotile cilia syndrome. Most of us tested for CF first because the symptoms are similiar.

People with PCD do not have functioning cilia. Their cilia may be completely paralyzed (immotile cilia), beat inadequately or in an ineffective fashion (dyskinetic cilia), or may not have developed at all (ciliary aplasia). Without functioning cilia, people with PCD are unable to protect their respiratory system. Frequent infections of the lungs, ears, throat, and sinuses are common.

As a result of PCD, I had a lung collapse at age 9, subsequent removal and currently have mild bronchiestasis in both lungs. I have a few friends listed for double lung transplant. I use the vest daily. Airway clearance is VERY important for PCD'ers

Interesting side note-
Roughly half of all PCD'ers (including myself) have reversed organs( situs inversus)

It's intersting, it's rare....what more could you ask for...LOL

Answer 2

I'm not an RT either, but I do have lung disease. There is a lot of new info out there.... so many breathing problems to choose from.

Might I suggest COPD? It stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, an umbrella term for emphysema and chronic bronchitis. There are other diseases under the umbrella, but those are the 2 main ones. They are both primarily caused by smoking.

You might find it interesting that more & more younger people are being diagnosed with COPD. For instance, I was only 33 when I was diagnosed, which is very young. THere is a hereditary form of the disease too.

Check it out. I think you will find TONS of info on the net.

Good luck with your paper!

Answer 3

COPD - though that's a biggie.

I do highly recommend cystic fibrosis. It's a disease process that people don't really think or associate with respiratory but it is. Nobody else will probably do this one. Lots of information out there on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis

Answer 4

Goodpastures Syndrome
Langerhans' Cell Granulomatosis
Alveolar proteinosis

Answer 5

If you're looking for broad subjects, you would select cstic fibrosis, pulmonary sarcoidosis, silicosis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, Respiratory failure, carbon dioxide narcosis, COPD, Lung CA, etc.

For simple ones, try SIDS, asthma, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, SARS, croup, pulmonary embolism, epiglotitis, URI, etc.

Answer 6

This is pretty funny... First, you're waiting 'til the last minute to ask a question on a paper due tomorrow? You're on the internet, so why don't you Google/Yahoo it? Or you can use the not-so-reliable Wikipedia. So why did you wait until the last minute?

Answer 7

Interstitial lung disease includes a whole bunch of different diseases. One is pulmonary fibrosis. So you could do your paper on ILD or PF. Depends how long it has to be! Good luck! I hope this helped. :)

Answer 8

Try pulmonary edema. There's a lady at the hospital where I work that's been here for going on 4 YEARS!! That was her admitting diagnosis. Try it.

Answer 9

Asthma, there are several kinds of Asthma, Is this one that is taken?

Answer 10

What about Laryngitis? Im not a RT but I hope that helps.