...factors affect it, and ultimately, why men are more vulnerable than women. Emphysema, which is a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), affects the respiratory system. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are the two diseases that fall under COPD (Demirjian, 2012, para. 1). The most common known cause of emphysema is from cigarette smoking due to the pollutants in tobacco. Studies show that while cigarette smoking is the major cause, other possible causes are air pollutants, chemical irritant exposure, chronic bronchitis, and genetics (Zelman, 2010, p.197). The pollutants in tobacco release chemicals from within the lungs that cause damage to the alveoli. As time passes, this continues to do more damage to the alveoli. The chemicals that cause the alveolar walls to break down also cause the lungs to lose elasticity which prevents them from inflating and deflating correctly. Since the lungs are not able to deflate as normal, they fill over time with carbon dioxide air (Zelman, 2010, p. 197). This affects the lungs ability to provide sufficient amounts of oxygenated blood to be pumped back into the body (Health Sciences, 2005, para. 1, 2). Genetics are also a cause because nonsmokers have been diagnosed with emphysema. People who are born with a genetic deficiency of the alpha-1 antitrypsin gene are more susceptible of being diagnosed with lung...
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...and thus less preferred. The prevalence of asthma has increased significantly since the 1970s. As of 2009, 300 million people were affected worldwide. In 2009 asthma caused 250,000 deaths globally. Despite this, with proper control of asthma with step down therapy, prognosis is generally good. Reaction: Suggestion: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also known as chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD), chronic obstructive airway disease (COAD), chronic airflow limitation (CAL) and chronic obstructive respiratory disease (CORD), refers to chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a pair of commonly co-existing diseases of the lungs in which the airways become narrowed. This leads to a limitation of the flow of air to and from the lungs causing shortness of breath. In clinical practice, COPD is defined by its characteristically low airflow on lung function tests. In contrast to asthma, this limitation is poorly reversible and usually gets progressively worse over time. COPD is caused by noxious particles or gas, most commonly from tobacco smoking, which triggers an abnormal inflammatory response in the lung. The inflammatory response in the larger airways is known as chronic bronchitis, which is diagnosed clinically when people regularly cough up sputum. In the alveoli, the inflammatory...
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... Restrictive vs. Obstructive Lung Disease Breath in with the weight of a thousand elephant’s, Heart pounding, feeling all is lost, Breath out with the strength of hundreds, Chest throbbing, Wishing nothing more than for the pain to stop, and both are a wasted effort. Feelings of hopelessness, No one can imagine the suffering you are feeling. This is what people go through everyday with restrictive or obstructive lung disease, while both are different they are very much the same and they are deadly however they are treatable as well as preventable. Restrictive lung disease as known as restrictive ventilator defects is where the disease causes the lung to restrict its expansion which makes it los lung volume. Which in other words the lung its self as lost its ability to expand due to lose of tissue or cell stiffening due to invasive environmental factors. Having a restrictive lung disease can make it very hard to breath and impairs the body’s ability to transfer oxygen into the body’s bloodstream. Without having the proper amount of oxygen in our blood our bodies can begin to shut down. Now obstructive lung disease is the opposite, obstructive lung disease is where the lung cannot exhale all the air in the lungs. This can be cause by damage or narrowing of the airways as well as blocked or inflamed airways. We exhale carbon dioxide and not being able to exhale all the air in the lung can lead to poisoning by carbon dioxide, not by...
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...COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Angelia Alleyne HCS/245 May 4, 2015 Professor Lori Olson COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a long-term disease that causes breathing problems. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death worldwide. COPD, however, is a heterogeneous collection of diseases with differing causes, pathogenic mechanisms, and physiological effects. Therefore a comprehensive approach to COPD prevention will need to address the complexity of COPD. Advances in the understanding of the natural history of COPD and the development of strategies to assess COPD in its early stages make prevention a reasonable, if ambitious, goal. Prevention can be classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary (Rennard, Drummond, 2015). The term COPD is used to describe certain diseases that partially block airflow in the lungs. The most common kinds of COPD include: Emphysema and Chronic bronchitis and other diseases. Emphysema can cause damage to the alveoli that cannot be cured; this is the tiny air sacs of the lungs where oxygen is put into your blood. With emphysema your lungs become less able to take in good air and get rid of carbon dioxide. Chronic bronchitis occurs when the airways in the lungs become swollen; this causes more mucus than normal to be made in the lungs. The swelling and increased mucus can cause the airflow to become partially blocked. Chronic...
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...the nose through your pharynx or throat through your larynx or voice box through your trachea or windpipe from your trachea, air moves into two large tubes in your chest called bronchi, each bronchus leads to one lung and vice-versa. Within each lung, the large bronchus divides into smaller bronchi, which lead into smaller passageways called bronchioles. The bronchioles continue to divide until they reach the dead ends called alveoli. The alveoli are where oxygen is transferred into the blood cell. Speaking of lungs, who can describe the inside of the lungs? It’s like the branches of the tree, the branches will be your bronchi the smaller branches will be your bronchioles and the leaves are your alveoli (Source: Miller & Levine Biology by Kenneth R. Miller, Ph.D and Joseph S. Levine, Ph.D). Now let’s go to the diseases and how to prevent it according to Wikipedia. COPD or the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, the causes of this are smoking, air pollution, occupational exposures, and genetics. Just a trivia, in 2012, COPD ranked as the third-leading cause of death, killing over 3 million people (source: http://who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/). To prevent this, you should quit or don’t smoke tobacco, tobacco smoking is the most common cause of COPD. COPD treatments include vaccinations, rehabilitation, and often inhaled bronchodilators and steroids. Some people may...
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...harmful complications. The lungs belonging to the respiratory system in humans control the amounts of oxygen inhaled into the body and, the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled from the body. Oxygen is then passed to blood cells which then circulate throughout the body giving off the oxygen where it is needed. This process can become interrupted by the introduction of various diseases that are within the lungs. Two dangerous diseases that are commonly mistaken for each other are lung cancer and lung disease, both of which cause death in more cases than not. The presence of lung cancer a disease which can cause the formation of tumors, differs from that of lung disease, different disorders that few people are aware of. Knowing the difference between the two is a key, in preventing the possibility of being diagnosed with either of the two. This also enables the ability to spot the early stage symptoms of these deadly diseases. The lungs are used for breathing, the many diseases found there mostly cause difficulty to this function. A series of mutations in normal lung cells which causes them to become abnormal and grow out of control is how lung cancer arises. These abnormal cells are unable to repair the damaged DNA, and as a result grow to form tumors. Lung Cancer can appear anywhere throughout the lungs. Lung disease is a bit different however. The trachea, a tube located in the throat branches into two tubes which connect the lungs. This is where some lung diseases are found such...
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...SMOKING KILLS! Contents of a cigarette What are the effects of smoking on the lungs? Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer caused by smoking. More than 80% of cases of lung cancer are due to smoking. Cigarette smoke contains many chemicals that interfere with the body's method of filtering air and cleaning out the lungs. The smoke irritates the lungs and leads to overproduction of mucus. It also paralyses the cilia - tiny hair-like structures that line the airways and clean out dust and dirt. Paralysis of the cilia means mucus and toxic substances accumulate, resulting in congestion of the lungs. This extra mucus means smokers are more likely to suffer from chronic bronchitis and what is known as 'smoker's cough'. Cigarette smoke is one of the best known triggers of asthma. When people suffer from asthma their inflamed air passages, which are very sensitive, narrow when exposed to cigarette smoke. This causes an asthma attack. Long term exposure of the lungs to the irritants in tobacco smoke destroys the normal lung structure. The elastic walls of the small airways within the lungs are broken down. This reduces the amount of lung tissue available for the transfer of oxygen from the air to the blood. This condition is called emphysema. Some degree of emphysema is found in almost all people who are long-term smokers; however the severity will...
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...Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive lung disease that makes it hard for someone to breath by limiting the airflow of oxygen in and out of the lungs. COPD is a deteriorating disease that worsens as time goes on that affects over 12 million people in the United States (U.S.). It is characterized by inflammation and severe limitation of airflow in and out of the lungs. COPD is an umbrella term used to describe a group of breathing conditions. Most people age 40 and older with a history of smoking (either current or former smokers) are more likely to suffer from COPD, although in some cases one out of six people with COPD have never smoked. (GICOPD 2001) The most common types of COPD are Chronic Bronchitis, Asthma, and Emphysema. Many people diagnosed with COPD may have two types Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema while a few may only have Asthma. COPD is the third most common cause of death in the United States. Of the major causes of death in the U.S., it is the only to have risen in numbers since the year of 2007 while the leading causes (Heart Disease and Cancer) numbers have slightly gone down. COPD is also the second leading cause of disability in the U.S. In 2010, the cost to the nation for COPD was projected to be approximately $49.9 billion, including $29.5 billion in direct health care expenditures, $8.0 billion in indirect morbidity costs and $12.4 billion in indirect mortality costs. ((COPD) Fact Sheet 2014) In a set of normal functioning lungs, air is inhaled and...
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...objectives that will be discussed include smoking, to include health related problems that result in this behavior, and respiratory illnesses, including Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Within the paper, prevention of exacerbation will also be noted as it relates to each illness. Tobacco Use Scientific knowledge about the health effects of tobacco use has increased greatly since the first Surgeon General’s report on tobacco was released in 1964. The most successful interventions of many clinical trials incorporated elements of social or organizational change to modify individual behavioral risk factors, such as alcohol and tobacco consumption, diet, and physical activity. Most behaviors are not randomly distributed in the population, but rather are socially patterned and often cluster with one another. Thus, many people who drink also smoke cigarettes, and those who follow health-promoting dietary practices also tend to be physically active. People who are poor, have low levels of education, or are socially isolated are more likely to engage in a wide array of risk-related behaviors and less likely to engage in health-promoting ones. Tobacco use has been proven to causes illnesses such as Cancer, Heart disease, Lung diseases (including emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic...
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...Smoking is an extremely hard habit to break and Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Smoking increases your risk of oral, uterine, liver, kidney, bladder, stomach, cervical cancer and Leukemia. Smoking also causes emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis. It is also the main cause of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (also known as COPD). 80% of deaths associated with COPD are due to smoking. It is also a fact that more woman die from lung cancer than breast cancer. One cigarette contains over four thousand chemicals and 43 of them are cancer causing ingredients. Just some of the most common dangerous chemicals in a cigarette are Nicotine, Tar, Carbon Monoxide, Formaldehyde, Ammonia, Arsenic, and Hydrogen Cyanide. The sooner...
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...When you hear the word cancer, the number one thought that comes to mind is fear. Cancer is a very harsh word. One of the most common types of cancer in the USA is lung cancer. Lung cancer can be caused by smoking cigarettes, hereditary from family members, or just one of the few that developed lung cancer from either lung disease or other causes. What causes lung cancer? The number one cause of lung cancer in the USA is smoking. 86% of lung cancer is cases is caused by smoking cigarettes, and smoke inhaled by other people putting off second hand smoke. You are at higher risk of getting lung cancer if you started smoking at a younger age. Passive smoking reduces the risk, but you are still at risk for getting lung cancer. Heavy exposure...
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...linked to smoking, we still do it. Why? Nicotine is the answer to that question. Nicotine from smoking changes the structure and function of your brain. When the brain stops getting the nicotine it's used to, you begin feeling strong withdrawal cravings. You think you want a cigarette when, actually, your brain wants nicotine. So nicotine is the culprit in addiction, but when you inhale cigarette smoke, nicotine isn’t the only thing your body is taking in. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer. Smoking is directly responsible for approximately 90 percent of lung cancer deaths and approximately 80-90 percent of COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis) deaths. Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body, and is a main cause of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema). It is also a cause of coronary heart disease, stroke and a host of other cancers and diseases. Also, smoking will turn your teeth yellow over time and make your breath smell and taste not so pleasant. I don’t think anyone would want to lick an ashtray but that’s what it tastes like when you kiss a smoker. Not to mention the fact that there is a constant smell of cigarette smoke on your clothes and in your hair. There’s nothing...
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...cause for many of the lung diseases. Smoking is a practice of burning a dried plant and inhaling the smoke. It is one of most common form of recreational drug usage. People who smoke get addicted to smoking which leads to gradual damage to the body. The substances that are inhaled causes reactions at the nerve endings in the central nervous system. These reactions are similar to that caused by the naturally occurring hormones, dopamine and endorphins, which are the main contributors of the sensation of pleasure known as 'high'. The level of being high can vary from different mild stimulus (generally caused by nicotine) to intense euphoria (caused by heroin, cocaine). On combustion...
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...Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD; Emphysema) Pathophysiology Abakyereba Kwansemah June 4, 2014 Abstract D.Z.is a 65-year-old man admitted to medical ward with an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; emphysema). Past medical history (PMH) indicates hypertension (HTN), well managed with enalapril (Vasotec) past six years, diagnosis (Dx) of pneumonia yearly for the past three years. D.Z. appears cachectic with difficulty breathing at rest. Patient reports productive cough with thick yellow-green sputum. He seems anxious and irritable during subjective data collection. He states, he has been a 2-pack-a-day smoker for 38 years. He complains of (c/o) insomnia and tiredness. His vital signs (VS) are 162/84, 124, 36, 102° F, SaO2 88%. Admitting diagnosis is chronic emphysema with acute exacerbation. Admitting orders includes: diet as tolerated; out of bed with assistance; oxygen (O2) to maintain SaO2 of 90%; maintenance IV of D5W at 50 ml/hr.; intake and output (I&O); arterial blood gases (ABGs) in AM; CBC with differential, basic metabolic panel (BMP), and theophylline (Theo-Dur) level on admission; chest x-ray (CXR) q24h; prednisone 60 mg/day PO; doxycycline 100 mg PO q12h x10 days, azithromycin 500 mg IV piggyback (IVPB) q24h x2 days then 500 mg PO x 7 days; theophylline 300 mg PO bid; heparin 5000 units SC q12h; albuterol 2.5 mg (0.5 ml) in 3 ml normal saline (NS) and ipratropium 500 mg by nebulizer q4-6h;...
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...Problems Chapter 10 Pneumonia is inflammation of the lungs resulting in consolidation Obstruction in gas exchange on the alveolar level Aspiration most common cause 2nd most frequent cause is droplet inhalation Least likely cause is blood borne Protein rich fluid move into the alveoli- complicated by production of the organism- result is decreased alveolar surface area-resulting in elevation of pco2 and a decrease in po2 Inspection-tachypnea and central cyanosis Percussion-dullness Palpitation-tactile fremitus Auscultation-crackles, rhonchi, wheezing, or egophony Diagnosis-labs, chest xray Ct not recommended unless anthrax is suspected Bronch-immunocompromised individuals and patients who have not responded to treatment Xrays Focal- bacteria Interstitual-viral Rapid progression/ multifocal- legionella, pneumococci, staphylococci Medialstinal widening without infiltrates- inhalation anthrax Tamiflu within 48 hours to be effective HAP-received care in a health care institution for at least 2 days in the last 90 days prior to infection VAP- pneumonia within 48 hours of intubation HAP more difficult to treat compared to CAP COPD- include emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and small airway disease Emphysema-structural change via destruction and enlargement of alveoli Chronic bronchitis- chronic cough and mucous production Small airway disease-generalized narrowing of bronchioles, may include asthma COPD-4th leading cause of death in United States Risk factors-...
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