Lung
DiseaseIntroduction Lung
disease is common among both men and women. It is more frequent in smokers than
non-smokers. The death rate from these diseases is on 4th place (after
heart disease, cancer and stroke) and is increasing in women as a group versus
men. This is because women as a group are smoking more now than men and
the associated lung diseases such as lung cancer, pneumonia, emphysema and chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (=COPD) lead to premature death. In the following
review I will concentrate on the more common lung problems, their symptoms, how
they are diagnosed and how they can be treated. It goes without saying that prevention
measures such as stop smoking, wearing protective masks in industrial high risk
areas, moving away from smog infested environments etc. will always be the most
powerful tool (Ref.1). Symptoms of lung disease: The
most common symptoms asssociated with lung disease are coughing, shortness of
breath (=dyspnea), wheezing, stridor, coughing up blood (=hemoptysis), chest pain,
blue skin discoloration (=cyanosis) and clubbing
(=enlargement of the fingertips). Some of these symptoms are due to narrowing
of the airways, such as wheezing in asthma, others are due to chronic oxygen deficiency,
such as cyanosis and clubbing. Diagnostic tests: The
simplest way for the practicing physician to come to a diagnosis regarding lung
diseases is to take a thorough history, to do a careful examination with auscultation
(=listening to the lungs with a stethoscope) and to order a chest X-ray. Often
diagnoses such as asthma, pneumonia, ephysema, COPD and others can be accurately
diagnosed this way. However, the physician today, particularly the lung specialist,
(=respirologist or pneumologist) has a number of other tools that can be useful.
This is depicted in this table. The links lead to images where the items are depicted.
The following gives an overview of the most common lung diseases.
The links transport you right to the beginning of each chapter where the
disease is dealt with in more detail.
| Common lung diseases |
| Name of lung disease: | Brief
description of disease: | | adult
respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) | Usually
viral in origin, the acute shortness of breath is very similar to the RSD of premature
babies | | atelectasis | A
collapse of a segment of the lower lung, usually in the lower lung area |
| asthma | Asthma
Introduction | An important
lung disease that affects a lot of people. It is an inflammatory condition of
the small bronchial tubes (bronchioles), with wheezing and spasm, often associated
with allergies. | | Classification
of Severity | | Asthma
Signs and Symptoms | | Diagnostic
Tests for Asthma | | Asthma
Treatment | | bronchiectasis | Chronic
bronchitis leads to this lung condition where small air sacs melt together forming
larger pockets filled with pus | | bronchitis
| Acute bronchitis
due to viruses or bacteria; chronic bronchitis often due to smoker's lung with
chronic infection and scarring | | COPD | Chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease leads to chronic cough, many infections and evtl.
respiratory failure | | cystic
fibrosis | Congenital lung abnormality
with very viscous mucous in airways; leads to COPD, bronchiectasis |
| emphysema | Chronic
asthma, COPD and chronic bronchitis can all lead to this end stage lung disease |
| hypersensitivity
pneumonitis | Farmer's lung is one example,
red cedar asthma another | | lung
abscess | Acute localized infection/pus
in one lung segment | | lung
cancer | Bronchogenic carcinoma is the
most common cancer in smokers | | occupational
lung disease | Examples are silicosis,
asbestosis or coal worker pneumoconiosis |
| pleural disorders | Lung
diseases of the lining of the lungs in the chest cavity leading to pleural effusions |
| pneumonia | Infection
of the lung tissue, often bacterial |
| pulmonary emboli | Clots
in the lung vessels lead to this life threatening disease, often originating from
clots in the deep veins of the legs (after surgery etc.) |
| pneumothorax | Collapse
of part or of all of a lung leads to this life threatening condition |
| respiratory
failure (life support) | A terminal condition
of many lung diseases when not enough oxygen can enter the blood stream because
of advanced chronic lung disease such as severe asthma, COPD or chronic bronchitis |
| sleep
apnea | A sleep disorder where the patient
stops breathing intermittently for more than 10 seconds and blood oxygen drops
| |
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