Disorders of the Respiratory System Part 3

At the beginning of this series we decided to touch upon only the common disorders of the respiratory system once we began the series we decided that there were many common disorders that touched up on the respiratory system and the one single article ended up growing into a 3 part series. Please make sure to read the entire series to have a full understanding of many common respiratory disorders.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is classified as a progressive, irreversible condition that is characterized by the diminished inspiratory and expiratory capacity of the lungs. With COPD there are chronic airflow limitations; COPD is common with other diseases such as emphysema, asthma and chronic bronchitis.

Emphysema is an alveolar disease and typical begins around the age of 40 and progresses to disability around the ages of 50 to 60. The typical causes of emphysema are smoking and heredity. Emphysema is the abnormal permanent enlargement and destruction of the alveolar. The alveolar may rupture causing severe scarring. When this happens the CO2 become trapped in the alveolar and they cannot be blown off, by normal breathing. The signs and symptoms of emphysema depend greatly on how progressed the emphysema is but include, dyspnea at rest, barrel chest, tachycardia, clubbed fingers, copious amounts of sputum, tacypnea, and being underweight.

Chronic bronchitis is recurrent or chronic productive cough for a minimum of three months a year for at least 2 years. With chronic bronchitis the mucus glands hypertrophy develops and the cilia can no longer move particles along this then results in increased secretion production. Causes of chronic bronchitis include chronic irritants and smoking. The signs and symptoms include productive cough, reddish blue skin that is due to chronic hypoxia, increased dyspnea and cor pulmonale may result.

Asthma is periodic bronchial narrowing that is a result from various stimuli. Asthma is broken down into two types of asthma, Intrinsic which is caused from respiratory infection and physical or emotional stress and Extrinsic which is caused by the immune response from antigen antibody reaction (for example dust, pollen, foods, animal dander, etc.) The signs and symptoms of asthma include wheezing, respiratory distress, tachypnea, dyspnea and tachycardia.

Bronchiectasis is an irreversible chronic dilation of bronchi, where pulmonary muscle tone is lost. This also can occur due to a secondary condition cause by another disease process but can also occur due to chronic infection or inflammation. The signs and symptoms include cyanosis, crackles, clubbing fingers, dyspnea, wheezes and polycythemia.