About this disease
What it is about
Two and a half thousand years ago, the Greek physician Hippocrates already used the term asthma for shortness of breath and temporary shortness of breath. Translated, it means "anxiety" or "wheezing". Basically, a distinction can be made between allergic and non-allergic asthma. In most sufferers today, the disease can be well controlled thanks to modern medications, so that symptoms occur only occasionally and life-threatening asthma attacks do not occur. However, a therapy that permanently cures asthma does not yet exist.
Types
Although asthma has been known for a very long time, the disease still poses many mysteries to science today. The goal of researchers worldwide is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of asthma development and to use this knowledge to develop new, efficient therapies. Thanks to research, modern antibody therapies are used in severe cases, which can influence asthma at the molecular level.
Symptoms and consequences
A characteristic feature of asthma is that the symptoms occur in attacks and then recede, only to flare up again during the next attack. Symptoms include whistling breathing (wheezing), shortness of breath and shortness of breath, a tightness in the chest, or just coughing.
What we do for you
Examination and diagnosis
We usually perform a physical examination, do a pulmonary function test and, depending on the situation, allergy tests. To further confirm the suspicion of asthma, a reversibility test is also usually used. This measures whether lung function improves with airway dilating medications. If the patient is currently symptom-free, the findings may be largely normal. In this case, a provocation test is performed.
Treatment
Thanks to modern medications, the disease can be controlled so well in most patients that asthma attacks and symptoms occur only occasionally. However, there is currently no therapy that can permanently cure asthma. Most asthma patients can do everything in their lives that non-asthmatics can do. Many top athletes have asthma and can achieve top performances despite asthma.