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Symptoms of chronic pneumonia
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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The clinical picture is characterized by repeated (several times a year) inflammatory processes in the lungs and depends on the volume and prevalence of the process, the degree of bronchial damage. General symptoms include signs of intoxication: malaise, pallor, "shadows" under the eyes, loss of appetite. With extensive damage, flattening of the chest, depression in the sternum area or its keel-shaped bulging may develop. During an exacerbation, there is an increase in body temperature, moderate and short-term.
The most constant symptoms of chronic pneumonia are cough, sputum production and persistent wheezing in the lungs. During exacerbations, the cough is wet, "productive", with the discharge of mucopurulent or purulent sputum. Wet medium- and small-bubble wheezing is constantly heard in the affected areas. They persist during remission, and dry wheezing may also be heard.
The most common localization of the process is the lower lobe of the left lung (usually the basal group of segments). Less frequently, changes are localized in the lower and middle lobes of the right lung. Rare are lesions of the middle lobe alone, the lingual segments, or both. Lesions of the upper lobes of the lungs and their segments are not observed in chronic pneumonia.
The physical development of children with chronic pneumonia usually corresponds to their age. Signs of intoxication are often absent during the remission period.
The constant symptoms of chronic pneumonia include cough, sputum production and persistent wheezing in the lungs. The severity of clinical manifestations depends on the location and extent of the lesion.
The most vivid clinical picture is observed with damage to the left lower lobe, especially in combination with damage to the lingual segments, less vivid - with damage to the lower lobe of the right lung. Damage to the middle lobe, as well as to the lingual segments, usually proceeds with few symptoms.
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