- With Mayo Clinic emeritus internist
Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D.
Edward Rosenow, M.D.
Dr. Edward Rosenow III spent his entire professional career at Mayo Clinic, retiring after 31 years. He was born in Ohio and obtained his M.D. at Ohio State University. Prior to his retirement, he was the Arthur M. and Gladys D. Gray Professor of Medicine.
He has achieved numerous awards and honors, including the Mayo Fellows Hall of Fame of Outstanding Teachers, president of the Mayo staff, president of the American College of Chest Physicians, Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, an honor lectureship in his name given each year at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, the Mayo Foundation Distinguished Alumnus Award, and most recently the Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D., Professorship in The Art of Medicine by the Bruce Clinton family. He recently received the Mayo Plummer Society Award for Excellence in Medicine.
"It has always been my feeling that the better informed the patient is about his or her body and its functions, the better the patient-physician partnership," he says. "The informed patient is in turn more compliant with the physician's recommendations and better able to make intelligent decisions about health care needs."
He was chairman of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He is a Master Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians. He considers the Karis ("caring" in Greek) Award from Mayo Clinic as one of his most cherished awards, because he learned over the years that many times the gift of caring and compassion are more effective in healing than the powers of modern medicine. As a result of this award he wrote a book, "The Art of Living … The Art of Medicine," about how medicine should be practiced.
Dr. Rosenow has contributed to more than 170 publications, including over 30 book chapters, two books, two co-authored books and four amici curiae for the U.S. Supreme Court on tobacco legislation.
Definition (1)
- Barrel chest: What causes it?
Complications (1)
- Hyperinflated lungs: What does it mean?
Lifestyle and home remedies (2)
- Emphysema: Does cold weather make it worse?
- Air pollution and exercise: Is outdoor exercise risky?
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Question
Hyperinflated lungs: What does it mean?
A recent chest X-ray showed that I have hyperinflated lungs. What could cause this?
Answer
from Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D.
Hyperinflated lungs can be caused by obstructions in the passages that deliver air to your lung tissue. Air gets trapped within the lung and causes it to overinflate. Hyperinflation can also occur when the air sacs in your lungs become less elastic, which interferes with the expulsion of air from your lungs.
One of the most common causes of hyperinflated lungs is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — a disorder that includes emphysema. Lung problems such as asthma and cystic fibrosis can also cause hyperinflation.
In some cases, lungs may appear hyperinflated on X-rays for reasons unrelated to lung function. If you aren't experiencing shortness of breath, there's probably nothing to worry about. But the only way to know whether you have something that causes truly hyperinflated lungs is to do a lung function test. If your lung function is abnormal, you should see a lung specialist to identify and treat the underlying problem.
Next questionEmphysema: Does cold weather make it worse?
- Ferguson GT. Why does the lung hyperinflate? Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. 2006;3:176.
- Kohlhaufl M. Dynamic hyperinflation in patients with COPD. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 18, 2011.
- Grenier P. Large airway disease and chronic airway obstruction. In: Adam A, et al. Grainger & Allison's Diagnostic Radiology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/page.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-10163-2..50019-1&isbn=978-0-443-10163-2&sid=1220632154&uniqId=287194314-3#4-u1.0-B978-0-443-10163-2..50019-1--cesec43. Accessed Oct. 18, 2011.
- What are lung function tests? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/lft/. Accessed Oct. 18, 2011.
- Rosenow EC (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 28, 2011.
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