Effects of smoking Flashcards
What do the carcinogens in smoke do?
Impair the protective mechanisms that the respiratory tract has for handling particles in the air
What are the 5 main components that smoking causes?
Narrowing and remodelling of the airways
Increased number of goblet cells
Enlargement of mucus-secreting glands of the central airways
Alveolar loss
Vascular bed changes leading to pulmonary hypertension
What happens to the cilia due to smoking?
They become paralysed and destroyed
What is the effect of ciliary dysfunction and increased goblet cell size
Airways become inflamed and excessive mucus secretion
What is the effect of excessive mucus secretion?
Impairs ventilation and also makes the lungs more susceptible to infection
What happens to the cilia due to smoking?
The alveoli break down and join together, which forms larger air spaces than normal
What is the result of elastin breakdown and alveolar integrity loss
emphysema -> sufficient oxygen supply to the blood is impaired
How does smoking affect the airways?
Causes them to become more narrow as the epithelium lamina and smooth muscle become thicket
What contributes to airway resistance and thus a reduction in airflow?
reduced elastic recoil
fibrotic changes in the lung parenchyma
luminal obstruction of airways by secretions
What causes hypoxia in patients who smoke?
hyperinflation due to expiratory flow limitation and destruction of lung parenchyma
what is the consequence of hypoxia?
vascular smooth muscle thickening and thus pulmonary hypertension.
