breath sounds

breath sounds

a murmur, bruit, fremitus, rhonchus, or rale heard on auscultation over the lungs or any part of the respiratory tract.

Synonym(s): respiratory sounds

breath sounds

(breth sowndz)

A murmur, bruit, fremitus, rhonchus, or rale heard on auscultation over the lungs or any part of the respiratory tract.
Synonym(s): respiratory sounds.

breath sounds

Respiratory sounds heard on auscultation of the chest. In a normal chest, they are classified as vesicular, tracheal, and bronchovesicular.

See also: sound

breath

the air taken in and expelled by the expansion and contraction of the thorax.

---

bad breath

see breath odor (below).

breath odor

characteristic for a species, reflecting their diet. Abnormal or unpleasant odors may be caused by diseased or necrotic tissue in the respiratory or upper gastrointestinal tracts, including mouth and nasal cavity. Diseased teeth are a common cause in dogs and cats. In addition, certain metabolic diseases may produce distinctive breath odor, e.g. ketoacidosis, uremia.

hydrogen breath test

detects the level of hydrogen in expired air as an indication of intestinal bacterial fermentation of carbohydrates. It is used in the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease and carbohydrate malabsorption.

breath sounds

can be heard with a stethoscope on the chest and trachea. The normal sounds are the normally very faint vesicular murmur and the louder, tubular sounding bronchial tones. They are made by the air passing through the tubes of the bronchi. Adventitious (abnormal) sounds are the rale, rhonchus, grunt, friction rub, laryngeal stertor, wheeze and peristaltic sounds. Bronchovesicular sounds are intermediate between the two in character and site of origin. The vesicular sounds and the bronchial tones may be increased to the point of being an abnormality. Abnormal sounds are caused by narrowing of the tubes, collection of exudate in them or inflammation of the pleural surfaces.

breath stacking

in artificial respiration, incomplete expiration can result in residual air adding to the volume of the next inspiration with eventual over inflation of the lungs.

breath volume

may be assessed by observation of degree of chest movement and volume of expired air as felt by the hand. A respirometer is more accurate but is not available nor satisfactory for clinical use with animals unless the subject is trained to use one.