Airway inflammation and the lung

Assessment of inflammatory processes in the lung can be difficult and interpreting the clinical significance can be daunting. An important part of the diagnostic process is the assessment of the pattern and distribution of the disease process in the lungs. Inflammatory conditions by and large show a limited number of distributions—airway, parenchymal or both, with the last being split into those that show an airway distribution in the parenchyma and those that largely spare the airways. This article aims to review patterns of inflammation involving the airways and their clinical associations.