[Eosinophilic bronchitis: update and review].

Eosinophilic bronchitis (EB) is a common cause of chronic cough, which shares similar airway eosinophilic inflammation with asthma, however, there is no airway hyperresponsiveness and airflow obstruction. The mechanism of the different phenotype between EB and asthma remains unclear. The differences in the location of airway inflammation, the level of inflammatory mediators, the imbalance of important metabolic pathways, and the degree of airway remodeling may result in different pathogenesis between EB and asthma. EB response well to inhaled corticosteroids but recurrence of EB is still high after treatment. The longer duration of treatment with inhaled corticosteroids could decrease the relapse rate. On the prognosis of EB, a long-term follow-up study suggested that EB should be a distinct entity rather than an early stage of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.嗜酸性粒细胞性支气管炎是慢性咳嗽的常见病因，其存在与支气管哮喘类似的嗜酸细胞性气道炎症却缺乏气道高反应性与气流阻塞，机制尚未完全明确，可能与气道炎症分布的部位、炎症介质、重要代谢通路失衡以及气道重塑等差异有关。嗜酸性粒细胞性支气管炎对吸入性糖皮质激素治疗反应良好，然而停药后易复发，较长疗程的吸入性糖皮质激素治疗可降低复发率。现有研究显示，嗜酸性粒细胞支气管炎是一种独立疾病，而非支气管哮喘或慢性阻塞性肺疾病的前期状态。.