Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a crippling, progressive disease.
COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe. "Progressive" means the disease gets worse over time.
In COPD, less air flows in and out of the airways because of one or more of the following:
The airways and air sacs lose their elastic quality.
The walls between many of the air sacs are destroyed.
The walls of the airways become thick and inflamed.
The airways make more mucus than usual, which tends to clog them.
It encompasses two important diseases – chronic bronchitis and Emphysema.
Chronic bronchitis involves inflammation and swelling of the lining of the airways that leads to narrowing and obstruction of the airways. The inflammation also stimulates production of mucous (sputum), which can cause further obstruction of the airways.
Emphysema:There is permanent enlargement of the alveoli due to the destruction of the walls between alveoli in emphysema. The destruction of the alveolar walls reduces the elasticity of the lung overall. Loss of elasticity leads to the collapse of the bronchioles obstructing airflow out of the alveoli. Air becomes "trapped" in the alveoli and reduces the ability of the lung to shrink during exhalation. This trapped air takes up space and results in a reduced amount of air that can be taken in during the next breath. As a result, less air gets to the alveoli for the exchange of gasses.
Chronic bronchitis is inflamed and narrowed airways that make breathing difficult so that the patient is breathless. In Emphysema the lungs are enlarged but do not function.
In COPD, the elasticity of the alveoli is lost and the alveoli are inflamed and narrowed so that proper exchange of gases does not take place. There is accumulation of mucous which hinders breathing.
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