Respiratory Ailments: Varieties, Signs, and Potential Consequences
Airway diseases, lung tissue diseases, and lung circulation diseases are the three main categories that affect the respiratory system. These diseases can lead to compromised respiratory function and symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, breathlessness, and reduced oxygenation.
Airway diseases, like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cause airway inflammation and obstruction. Asthma, a chronic inflammatory disorder of the lungs, makes the airways prone to constrict, leading to symptoms like wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing. On the other hand, COPD, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, results in airflow obstruction primarily due to airway and alveolar damage.
Lung tissue diseases primarily affect the alveoli and lung parenchyma. Viral infections such as influenza can cause inflammation and consolidation of lung tissue leading to viral pneumonia and possible lung tissue collapse (atelectasis). Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) lung disease is another condition affecting lung tissue and small airways, causing inflammation, airway dilation (bronchiectasis), nodules, and sometimes cavitary lesions in lung tissue. Fibrotic diseases like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis also damage lung tissue, reducing lung compliance and impairing gas exchange.
Lung circulation diseases involve disorders affecting blood flow through the lungs, including conditions like pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary embolism. These diseases impair oxygen exchange by affecting the pulmonary vasculature, leading to symptoms such as shortness of breath and hypoxia.
Sarcoidosis is a condition that develops when a person's immune system cells clump to form granulomas, and it can happen in any organ, but the lungs are particularly affected. Symptoms of sarcoidosis include feeling tired or having a fever.
Smoking tobacco is the leading cause of COPD, a leading cause of death in the United States. There is no cure for bronchiectasis, and symptoms tend to get worse over time. Bronchiectasis affects the small airways in the lungs, causing the walls to become thick and swollen, and leading to excess mucus buildup and infections.
The lungs take in oxygen from the air and pump it through the body's airways and air sacs. The oxygen is then absorbed into the bloodstream and carried to the heart via the blood vessels. The human lungs take nearly 25,000 breaths in a day.
Pulmonary fibrosis causes scarring in the lungs, making it difficult for the body to absorb sufficient oxygen into the bloodstream. Symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis include shortness of breath that gets worse during exercise, a dry cough, fast and shallow breathing, tiredness, aching joints and muscles. Pulmonary hypertension is a common lung circulation disease that happens when high blood pressure damages the lung's blood vessels, which become stiff and narrow, causing the heart to pump harder.
Symptoms of pulmonary hypertension include fatigue, lightheadedness or fainting, chest pain, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, swelling in the feet, legs, or abdomen. The possible complications of pulmonary hypertension can include heart failure, blood clots, bleeding in the lungs, liver damage.
The lungs work with the heart to ensure the body gets the oxygen it needs, by absorbing the oxygen from the air and pumping it throughout the body by the heart, traveling through blood vessels to vital organs and tissues. In summary, understanding these different types of lung diseases is crucial for early diagnosis and effective treatment, leading to improved quality of life for those affected.
- Other than asthma and COPD, lung tissue diseases such as viral pneumonia, Mycobacterium avium complex lung disease, and fibrotic diseases like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis can also affect the respiratory system, causing inflammation, consolidation, damage, and scarring to lung tissue.
- Cancer, specifically other lung cancer, is a medical-condition that can impact the health-and-wellness of individuals, contributing to compromised respiratory function with symptoms such as coughing, breathlessness, and reduced oxygenation.
- Sarcoidosis, a condition where a person's immune system cells clump to form granulomas in the lungs, is not a lung cancer but belongs to the category of pulmonary diseases, causing symptoms like tiredness and fever.
