Emphysema-lung disease

Emphysema is a lung disease which results in shortness of breath and physical activity is reduced. It causes a lot of damage to the air sacs and small airways in the lungs. The damaged tissue obstructs the airflow while exhaling. A lot of energy is required to exhale as the disease advances. A sad part of this disease is that early symptoms are negligible and by the time symptoms come up; irreversible damage is done to the lungs. The main symptoms and signs of Emphysema are breathlessness and low level of physical exertion. The majority of cases of emphysema are directly related

to smoking and thus most cases affect smokers or former smokers.

Emphysema is a very serious condition and can be fatal especially combined with chronic bronchitis to form chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which results in obstruction of the airways which cause poor oxygen flow to the lungs.

What causes?

Predisposing factors include cigarette smoking, recurrent or chronic respiratory infections, air pollution, and allergies. Smoking is by far the most important of these factors. Smoking increases mucus production but impairs its removal from the airways, impedes the function of airway cells that digest disease-causing organisms, causes airway inflammation, destroys air sacs in the lungs, and leads to abnormal fibrous tissue growth in the bronchial tree. Early inflammatory changes may reverse themselves if the person stops smoking before lung destruction is extensive.Family and hereditary factors

may also predispose a person to chronic bronchitis or emphysema.

Quitting smoking and emphysema are becoming inextricably linked because so much future damage can be prevented. Smoking cigarettes pollutes deeply into the lungs damaging alveolus permanently. Obviously the person is much better if they stop smoking immediately to prevent further damage deep in these lung air sacs.

Symptoms

The typical person with chronic bronchitis or emphysema is a long­term cigarette smoker who has no symptoms until middle age, when his or her ability to exercise or do strenuous work starts to decline and a productive cough begins. Subtle at first, these problems worsen with age and as the disease progresses. Early symptoms include mild shortness of breath and a slight "smoker's cough" caused by the narrowing and clogging of airways with mucus - a hallmark of chronic bronchitis.
Symptoms may also include fatigue, recurrent respiratory infections and weight loss. By the time symptoms appear, people with emphysema may have permanently lost as much as 60 percent lung function.