Respiratory System Disorders and Therapy From a New - Louis Bolk ...

dissolution. These diversions can lead to two different types of pathological processes when
the imbalance is not corrected. The inflammation phase also has two types of diversion.
An example of the consolidating type is any chronic inflammatory process; an example of
the dissolving type is an infection, such as in an infected wound or in pneumonia.
Inflammation
Dissolution Consolidation
Fig. 2.4. The diversion in the inflammatory phase
Two types of cells are especially active in the inflammation phase: The macrophages and
the neutrophils. The leading impulse in the inflammatory phase is to restore the impaired
connection with the rest of the organism with the aid of forces that can be described as
interactive in nature and that function alongside the integrative forces that move the
healing process along to completion (Bie et al 2008, Ch. 3).
The four characteristic signs of inflammation are rubor, calor, dolor, and tumor. In chronic
inflammatory disease, we see a preponderance of swelling and reddening of tissues
together with pain sensations. In infectious processes, warmth in the form of fever is
additionally present and the dominant symptom.
2.4.3. The Pathological Diversion of Asthma
In chronic asthma and its exacerbations, the pathological findings show characteristics of
persistence of inflammatory processes:
• The thickening and remodeling of the airways and the characteristic exudate are
constant phenomena that show the consolidation in asthma hindering normal
breathing movements and averting the completion of the healing process
• The “slowing down” of the inflammation phase leads to chronicity. There is delayed