Do you know all there is to know about emphysema? If you do not, it is time to learn more. This deadly autoimmune disease is fourth on the list of causes of death in the US. It is one among other diseases that fall under a group that is known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. The death rate caused by this group of diseases seems to be steadily rising, unlike heart disease and other causes of death that were more common in the past.
So, how can the horrible symptoms of emphysema be lessened? That is what this post talks about. Read on to know more.
Emphysema is a progressive and long-term lung disease that causes the air space in the lungs to become enlarged, so much so that it becomes abnormal (1). It occurs due to the death of tissues that maintain the function and shape of the lungs. When these tissues die, the airways collapse and the tissue that surrounds the alveoli sacs get destroyed (2). These sacs play a crucial role in making sure that blood in your body gets oxygen and when they are destroyed, it leads to hypoxemia. When you suffer from COPD like emphysema and chronic bronchitis, the pathways in your lungs degenerate over time and this further causes the airways to get obstructed. You will have difficulty breathing in and out and it can be followed by other health complications such as erythrocytosis, which causes a person to have abnormally high levels of red blood cells (3).
With emphysema, the lung’s anatomy gets altered in a number of ways. This is partly due to the destruction of tissue in the lung that surrounds smaller airways. Normally, these airways, known as bronchioles, are held by the tissue, which in turn allow air to leave the lungs when you exhale. When damage is caused to the tissue, the airways collapse and the air, or gases, get trapped in the alveoli sacs because air does not leave the lungs as it should.
When the lung is healthy, it resembles a new sponge. However, when it is affected by emphysema, it looks more like an old one that has been used for a long time, with large holes and no elasticity. During inhalation, the lung stretches and the stretched tissue naturally wants to return to its state of rest. With emphysema, the tissue’s ability to stretch gets impaired which results in trapped air in the lungs. The sponge-like tissue of the lung gets destroyed, and the capillaries and airways get severely affected as well. Therefore, it is not only airflow that is affected but blood flow as well. Emphysema impacts the lung’s ability to empty its alveoli and prevents blood from flowing properly through the lungs to provide it with oxygen.
COPD, like emphysema, is most commonly caused by long-term smoking (4). It is also the cause that is most preventable. Cigarette smoke contributes to emphysema in two ways. Firstly, it destroys tissue in the lungs that causes airways to get obstructed. Secondly, it causes irritation and inflammation to the airways that add to the obstruction of airflow. Apart from tobacco smoking, marijuana may also cause this disease.
Other causes of emphysema include:
As mentioned earlier, people who smoke are at a higher risk of developing emphysema. Exposure to second-hand smoke also increases the risk of this disease. People who have a genetic predisposition to the disease may also be at risk. Emphysema is more common among men than women, possibly due to reasons that have to do with hormones, as well as among older people, as lung function declines naturally as people age (5).
The primary symptom of emphysema is shortness of breath. Other symptoms of emphysema include the following:
Symptoms of emphysema get worse as the disease progresses. The rate at which shortness of breath worsens mainly depends on whether a patient of this disease continues to smoke. As you know, lung function slowly declines with age and in emphysema patients, the loss of this function gets accelerated due to smoking. Predicting the progression rate of emphysema symptoms is difficult as not much is known about why this disease occurs and in whom.
The symptoms of this disease progress faster in some patients than others. It is believed that genetic factors may play a role in making some people more vulnerable to the disease. Genetics may also be the reason the symptoms progress more rapidly in some people. However, a majority of emphysema patients can expect the symptoms to progress slowly if they stop smoking.
The signs of emphysema include the following:
Most signs develop only in the advanced stages of emphysema when the symptoms are highly severe.
PREV POST PAGE 1 2NEXT