Etiology andClassification
As with many chronic inflammatory diseases the etiology of bronchiectasis (BE) is enigmatic and poorly understood. Simply stated, BE purportedly occurs secondary to indolent chronic inflammatory process in the bronchi and is insidious, culminating in destruction of the elastic layers of the airways, leading to secondary dilation thereof (Cannon et al.
2013; Marolf, Blaik, and Specht 2007; Meler et al. 2010). A number of primary etiologies have been described in association with BE, namely, chronic bronchitis, eosinophilic bronchopneumopathy (Meler et al. 2010), primary ciliary dyskinesis, tracheal collapse, and bronchomalacia (Marolf et al. 2007). The overarching theory of BE is inflammatory damage, however, it is unclear as to why only certain patients with chronic airway inflammation develop BE while others do not. In addition, causality has not been proven in the case of BE and it is possible that the diseases implicated in the genesis of BE are associated with and not the cause of BE per se.
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