Lung disease
Key points
- Lung disease is any disease or disorder where lung function is impaired.
- Obstructive lung disease - a decrease in the exhaled air flow caused by a narrowing or blockage of the airways, such as with asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
- Restrictive lung disease - a decrease in the total volume of air that the lungs are able to hold.
- Often, this is due to a decrease in the elasticity of the lungs themselves or caused by a problem related to the expansion of the chest wall during inhalation.
Definition
Lung disease is any disease or disorder where lung function is impaired. There are three major physiologic categories of lung diseases:
1. Obstructive lung disease - a decrease in the exhaled air flow caused by a narrowing or blockage of the airways, such as with asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
2. Restrictive lung disease - a decrease in the total volume of air that the lungs are able to hold. Often, this is due to a decrease in the elasticity of the lungs themselves or caused by a problem related to the expansion of the chest wall during inhalation.
3. A defect in the ability of the lung's air sac tissue to move oxygen into a person's blood.
Most lung diseases actually involve a combination of these categories, such as emphysema, which involves both airflow obstruction and oxygenation problems.
Major lung diseases include:
- Asthma
- BOOP
- chronic bronchitis
- COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- emphysema
- interstitial lung disease
- pulmonary fibrosis
- sarcoidosis
Other lung diseases include:
- atelectasis
- eosinophilic pneumonia
- lung cancer
Written and revised by
Gerald Hurowitz, M.D.
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