肺気腫の呼吸機能に及ぼすアルコールの影響に関する研究

Abstract

Effects of ethanol on the respiratory tract remain to be determined. Recently patients with asthma are known to experience attacks after alcohol ingestion. But its effects on pulmonary emphysema have not been studied extensively. In this study, questionnaires and provocation tests were done. First, questionnaires about respiratory symptoms after alcohol intake were analysed for patients with emphysema and other chronic diseases. Second, effects of alcohol on lung function were examined for patients with pulmonary emphysema and healthy volunteers, per orally and by inhalation. 22.9% of the patients answered that they experienced respiratory symptoms after alcohol intake and the prevalence was most prominent among pulmonary emphysema patients (27.9%). Ethanol drinking did not induce any changes of spirometric parameters or of arterial blood gases. Also, pulmonary ventilation and perfusion did not show any significant changes after ethanol drinking. However, ethanol inhalation provoked significant hypoxemia in both pulmonary emphysema patients and healthy volunteers. Although spirometric study did not reveal any significant changes, krypton scintigraphic study demonstrated a relative shift of perfusion to the lower lung. From this study, the possibility that ethanol inhalation would bring hypoxemia and increase of ventilation perfusion inhomogeneity might be an contraindication for alcohol intake in some emphysema patients.