Respiratory system diseases Flashcards
What is asthma?
- Inflammatory disease of the airway.
- Mucus layer of membrane and muscle layer of the bronchi becomes thick
- mucous glands get big which reduced airflow in the lower respiratory tracts.
What are the symptoms for asthma?
- wheezing
- shortness of breath
- chest tightness/pain
- coughing
What are the pathological changes of the airway in asthma?
- airway diameter is reduced
- airway walls swell due to inflammatory response
- increase sticky mucus production
- gradual remodelling of airway structure
- hypertrophy of smooth muscle of the airway
What are the treatments for asthma?
- inhaler (some open up bronchioles and others suppress the immune system within)
- no smoking
- antihistamine tablets
What is lung cancer?
Cancer in the lungs, primary lung cancer.
Cancer from other parts of the body can spread via lymph nodes or blood vessels, secondary lung cancer.
What are the symptoms for lung cancer?
- cough
- chest infection
- coughing up blood
- lack of energy
- weight loss
What are the treatments for lung cancer?
Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery.
What is COPD?
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Name for a group of disease which causes breathing difficulties.
Give 2 example of COPD.
Emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Describe emphysema.
Chronic condition which causes the structural components around the alveoli to be destroyed, creating one large alveoli instead of many small ones.
Causes;
- genetic predisposition
- smoking
- people working in coal mines
Less O2 exchange with blood, bronchioles becomes liable to collapse so resistance to flow is increased making it difficult to breathe.
Later stages become very difficult to breath so the patients end up losing lots of weight.
Treatment for emphysema.
- stop smoking
- inhalers
- anti-inflammatory drugs
- O2 therapy (breathing from a tank full of pure O2)
- lung transplant or removal of worst part of lung
Describe chronic bronchitis.
Airway obstruction caused by mucus production and enlarging of the walls surrounding the alveoli.
Causes; unknown but smoking is a key trigger as well as environmental pollution and infections.
Treatment for chronic bronchitis.
- steroids to reduce inflammation
- O2 therapy
- bronchodilators which open up the airway
Give two types of lung infections.
Pneumonia and tuberculosis
Describe pneumonia.
Infection in the alveoli walls, causing inflammation which spreads throughout the lungs, by bacteria (common), viruses, fungi, and Protozoa.
Walls become leaky and porous, allowing fluids, RBCs, and WBCs to enter alveolar space. Causing the alveoli to become congested with fluid and debris.
This affects the gas exchange by decreasing the vol. of O2 and CO2 to be exchanged.
