Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: What is This?

COPD usually refers to two related diseases: emphysema and chronic bronchitis. With COPD, the airways of the lungs become damaged, making it difficult to move air into and out of your lungs. COPD cannot be fully reversed, but treatment can help slow the progression of the illness and minimize symptoms. It is estimated that twice the number of people who are diagnosed actually have the condition, but many people go undiagnosed and untreated. The lungs are very resilient organs, so people with COPD may not notice symptoms until their disease has progressed. Most people find out they have COPD because they go to their doctor with a persistent cough, a build up of mucus, or shortness of breath, especially when exerting themselves.

How Your Lungs Work

Breathing is the way your body gets oxygen into the blood. When you breathe in, air flows into the trachea, or windpipe, then into the main bronchial tubes, then into the smallest branches, called bronchioles. The air flows deep into the lungs into air sacs that look like tiny balloons, called alveoli. Oxygen from the air passes through the alveoli and into the blood vessels. The blood carries the oxygen to all parts of the body. The alveoli also remove carbon dioxide from the blood, which is then exhaled.

In healthy lungs, the airways are clear and open and the tubes are flexible and springy. The tiny alveoli fill with air and the air goes out quickly, so that oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged easily and efficiently. Tiny hair-like structures, called cilia, help to sweep away any unwanted particles in the bronchial tubes.

Lungs with COPD

With COPD, the airways become inflamed and lose elasticity and the alveoli may become damaged, so air does not move freely into and out of the lungs. It requires more work to breathe and less oxygen gets into the blood stream.

Two related diseases can contribute to COPD- emphysema and chronic bronchitis. You may have one or both of these conditions. Each disease has a different effect on the lungs, but their treatments are essentially the same.

• Chronic Bronchitis If you have chronic bronchitis, your lungs react to irritation by making more and thicker mucus. Thick mucus is difficult for the cilia to move and it builds up and blocks the airways, making it more difficult to breathe. Chronic bronchitis is different from acute bronchitis that people sometimes get when they have a cold or the flu. Chronic bronchitis is diagnosed when you cough up mucus and feel short of breath for three months or more each year for at least two consecutive years.
• Emphysema With emphysema, your lungs lose their elasticity. The tiny air sacs, called alveoli, are destroyed or become enlarged, and do not transfer oxygen to the blood properly. The small air passages in the lung, called bronchioles, also lose their elasticity, and become narrow or collapse altogether. With emphysema, air gets trapped in the lungs and cannot be easily exhaled.