{"id":713,"date":"2025-07-30T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/?page_id=713"},"modified":"2025-07-30T12:32:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:32:34","slug":"what-is-bronchiectasis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/basic-facts\/what-is-bronchiectasis\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Bronchiectasis?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p>Bronchiectasis is the permanent and irreversible damage to the airways. The airways become dilated (widened) and mucous or phlegm can accumulate which in turn can cause infection and inflammation.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image713_4b2c21-74 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image713_4b2c21-74 size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"705\" src=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/07\/bronchiectasis-medical-illustration-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"bronchiectasis medical illustration (1)\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-1152\" srcset=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/07\/bronchiectasis-medical-illustration-1-1.jpg 700w, https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/07\/bronchiectasis-medical-illustration-1-1-298x300.jpg 298w, https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/07\/bronchiectasis-medical-illustration-1-1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In normal airways, the mucous traps germs or dust and little beating hairs called cilia in the airways move the mucous and any trapped debris up and out of the lungs. In bronchiectasis the dilated airways lose the ability to effectively clear the mucous (and any debris) from the lungs.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Common symptoms in bronchiectasis are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>chronic cough<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>chronic sputum production<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>recurrent chest infections<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other symptoms that may be present are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Shortness of breath<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wheeze<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Coughing up blood<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fatigue and tiredness<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Weight loss<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chest pain<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cough incontinence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bronchiectasis is the permanent and irreversible damage to the airways. The airways become dilated (widened) and mucous or phlegm can accumulate which in turn can cause infection and inflammation. In normal airways, the mucous traps germs or dust and little beating hairs called cilia in the airways move the mucous and any trapped debris up<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":708,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-713","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/blog\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"Bronchiectasis is the permanent and irreversible damage to the airways. The airways become dilated (widened) and mucous or phlegm can accumulate which in turn can cause infection and inflammation. In normal airways, the mucous traps germs or dust and little beating hairs called cilia in the airways move the mucous and any trapped debris up","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1155,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/713\/revisions\/1155"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}