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Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, [1] are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, pleurae, pleural cavity, the nerves and muscles of respiration.
Alveolar hypoventilation (decreased minute volume due to reduced respiratory muscle activity, e.g. in acute neuromuscular disease); this form can also cause type 2 respiratory failure if severe. Diffusion problem (oxygen cannot enter the capillaries due to parenchymal disease, e.g. in pneumonia or ARDS).
Shortness of breath (SOB), known as dyspnea (in AmE) or dyspnoea (in BrE), is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity", and recommends evaluating dyspnea by assessing the intensity of its distinct ...
Diagnosis of obstructive disease requires several factors depending on the exact disease being diagnosed. However one commonality between them is an FEV1/FVC ratio less than 0.7, i.e. the inability to exhale 70% of their breath within one second. [11] Following is an overview of the main obstructive lung diseases.
Restrictive lung disease is characterized by reduced lung volumes, and therefore reduced lung compliance, either due to an intrinsic reason, for example a change in the lung parenchyma, or due to an extrinsic reason, for example diseases of the chest wall, pleura, or respiratory muscles. [3]
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. [3] [4] Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are many circumstances that can induce asphyxia, all of which are characterized by the inability of a ...
When associated with significant airflow limitation, emphysema is a major subtype of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung disease characterized by long-term breathing problems and poor airflow. [10] [11] Without COPD, the finding of emphysema on a CT lung scan still confers a higher mortality risk in tobacco smokers ...
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. [8] GOLD 2024 defined COPD as a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms (dyspnea or shortness of breath, cough, sputum production or exacerbations) due to abnormalities of the airways (bronchitis ...