Bronchial anthracofibrosis usually manifest as a form of obstructive airway disease, and can be accompanied by parenchymal diseases such as pneumonia, and pulmonary tuberculosis. This study investigated the ventilatory dynamics according to the severity of bronchial stenosis in patients with bronchial anthracofibrosis.

One hundred and thirteen patients with bronchial anthracofibrosis that was confirmed by bronchoscopy and who had undergone a pulmonary function test were enrolled in this study group. The correlation coefficients between the pulmonary functional parameters and the number of lobes with bronchial stenosis were investigated.

The incidence of ventilatory dysfunction was 56(49.6%) for obstructive, 8(7.1%) for restrictive, 2(1.8%) for mixed, and 47(41.6%) for a normal pattern. The FEV₁/FVC, FEF_25~75%, FEF_25%, FEF_50%, FEF_75%, and PEF showed a significant negative correlation (p<0.05) and the Raw had a significant positive correlation with the number of lobes with bronchial stenosis(p<0.001).

These findings suggest that the most common abnormality of the ventilatory function in bronchial anthracofibrosis is an obstructive pattern with a small airway dysfunction according to the severity of bronchial stenosis.