Common Respiratory Illness' Flashcards
What does V and Q mean in V/Q Mismatch?
V = Ventilation (air in)
Q = Perfusion (blood supply)
Why is V/Q Mismatch a bad thing?
The amount of air entering should supply enough O2 and exchange enough CO2 to help the body function properly. If imbalanced can cause hypoxia resulting in ill health
What is COPD?
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder
permanent/progressive patients that manage their symptoms with various medications and behavioural changes. Mostly smoking related issues
What are the two illness’ associated with COPD?
Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis
What are the 2 Types of Patients of COPD?
Pink and Blue
Pink COPD Patient symptoms
no cough, hyper-expanded ‘barrel’ chest, auscultation quiet
Blue COPD Patient symptoms
Jowly, some cyanosis, cough, hyper expansion on CXR, auscultation, ‘Rales’ (rattles), crackles sounds
Causes of chronic bronchitis
Pollutant/noxious gas/smog/cigarette aetiology
7 symptoms of chronic bronchitis
- Hypertrophy of mucous glands
- Hyper-secretion of mucous
- Causes semi-solid plugging of distal airways
- Chronic inflammation
- Inflammation induces spasm
- Fibrosis possible
- Patients wheeze causing hypoxia and raised O2 lvl’s
causes of emphysema
usually smoking related
What is emphysema?
Damage to acinus (alveoli cells)
Effect of emphysema
- Enlargement of distal air spaces
- Loss of elastin/structure of aleveolar septa walls
- Loss of SA:Vol
- Less recoil so harder to force air back out, reduced tidal volume
- Rate or breathes increase due to less O2 received in blood
What is asthma?
Acute and episodic condition. It is a spasm (hypertrophy) of the bronchiole smooth muscle drastically reducing the diameter of the bronchus so a very small amount of air can pass through the gap
asthma symptoms
Hyper-responsive airways causing inflammation of bronchial mucosa
Hyper-secretion of tenacious mucous
