Diseases of the Respiratory System

                                                                                      The respiratory system there's so many great things for us such as respiration helping us to speak detecting odors and so much more but sometimes things can go wrong with the organs within the respiratory system causing respiratory disease respiratory diseases are the third leading cause of death in the United States and can be divided into two main types restrictive respiratory diseases and obstructive respiratory diseases so we're going to talk about how restrictive and obstructive diseases are different from one another and some of those diseases that fall into each of those two categories restrictive lung diseases reduce pulmonary compliance and this is the lungs ability to stretch it also reduces a person's ability to inhale these diseases are usually caused by reducing a viola or surface tension and destruction of the lungs elastic fibers both of these together will hinder the lungs elasticity restrictive lung diseases will reduce a person's inspiratory vital and total lung capacity it also will make breathing in and out more difficult for the patient there are three main types of restrictive lung diseases there is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a disease in which the lung tissue becomes inflamed and causes damage to the lungs elasticity now when this tissue and the lungs become damaged it then gets  replaced with scars here she made of thick bundles of collagen fibers pneumoconiosis refers to a group of diseases in one these diseases arise from inhaling inorganic dust such as coal dust silicon dioxide asbestos fiberglass and heavy metals and these particles will permanently colonize the lung tissue causing it to become inflamed now neuromuscular diseases and chest-wall d for mites aren't

technically lung diseases but they do 

cause stiffness of the chest and 

weakness of the inspiratory muscle as a 

result of having 

diseased patients with restrictive lung 

diseases could experience symptoms such 

as shortness of breath dry cough 

sometimes with phlegm chest pain feeling 

extremely tired gasping breath 

depression or anxiety obstructive lung   

diseases on the other hand usually cause some type of respiratory blockage to obstruct means to hinder or block these diseases increase airway resistance which is the respiratory tract resistance to airflow and this causes the 

trouble with breathing out a patient 

with an obstructive lung disease a lot 

of times will purse their lips and 

breathe out slowly usually to reduce the 

lung compression and prevent air from being tracked a lot of patients with this type of disease will also hyperinflate their lungs and this is pretty much just another tactic for them to decrease the amount of air being trapped in the lungs in an obstructive lung disease pattern the residual volume which is the amount of air that is still in the lungs after exhaling will 

increase because again and obstructive 

lung disease patients it's hard for them 

to get the air out in their return this will 

decrease the lungs vital capacity which is the amount of air that can be exhaled 

from the lungs after a full inhale 

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or 

COPD is the most common type of obstructive lung disease over 16 million 

Americans have been affected by COPD and 

it's the sixth leading cause of death 

worldwide this disease causes a 

persistent blockage in the respiratory 

airway though risk factors of 

development COPD can vary from genetics 

or the environment you live in most 

patients with COPD do have a history of 

smoking now COPD has its own subtypes 

there is emphysema small airway disease 

and chronic bronchitis emphysema is a 

disease that causes destruction of the 

respiratory zone and loss of a viola 

surface tension results in normally large bronchioles this subtype of COPD is usually caused by the resins from cigarette smoke resins destroy the lungs elastic fibers of course causing the lung to lose its allez city also known as this pulmonary compliance and in very very rare cases a patient may have a genetic mutation that 

left them at high risk for developing 

the disease in this mutation the the 

individual is lacking an enzyme that fights against other enzymes that damage the lung tissue this results in the lungs elasticity to be destroyed at a very fast pace small airway resistance disease is a disease in which the bronchial has become narrowed and plugged with mucus this disease usually 

follows emphysema chronic bronchitis 

causes inflammation of the bronchial tubes which we can kind of tell how this disease will affect the lungs due to its name 

Franck means bronchi and itis meaning 

inflammation this disease causes the patients who produced an excessive amount of mucus that must be cleared by coughing this disease is mainly caused by cigarette smoke the cigarette smoke impairs the lungs by increasing the size and number of the mucous glands in goblet cells and this is what's going to cause an excessive amount of mucus being produced cigarette smoke also impairs 

the lungs by paralyzing the cilia of the 

respiratory epithelium now this is 

dangerous because the cilia of the respiratory system functions to filter the air breathed through the nose so if the cilia become paralyzed an individual won't be breathing and clean or filtered air patients with COPD 

usually experience a mixture of all 

three subtypes a patient with COPD will 

usually exhibit shortness of breath 

coughing excessive phlegm prolonged exhaling increased partial pressure of carbon dioxide decreased partial pressure of carbon dioxide cyanosis and Barrow chest due to lung hyperinflation 

treatment of COPD begins with smoking 

cessation and due to carbon dioxide 

buildup other treatments are done to 

increase oxygenation by using oxygen 

therapy or decreasing airway resistance now lung transplant therapy is also an option for patients that experience severe cases of COPD asthma another obstructive lung disease affects seven to ten percent of the world's population in asthma the Airways become hyper-responsive to a trigger now as far as triggers go the trigger can be anything such as mold pollen dust mites exercising infections 

air pollutants or drugs like aspirin now 

as a result of being exposed to the 

trigger three events will occur first 

the airway of the lungs will constrict then the Airways will become inflamed and lastly an excessive amount of mucus will be secreted each of these responses will cause resistance in the Airways in some cases a patient may still have mount Li inflamed Airways even without being exposed to a trigger asthma 

attacks occur in episodes now how much 

these attacks occur does vary amongst 

individuals asthma attacks consist of 

shortness of breath wheezing while breathing in and out and coughing most insects are acute and the patient usually recovers their normal pulmonary function now that always isn't the case there are some cases in which a patient can experience a consistent obstruction of the Airways this is a condition 

called status asthmaticus if you asthma 

attacks are treated through 

bronchodilators to reduce airway 

resistance 

now these bronchodilators will bind 

beta-2 receptors that are found on 

bronchial or smooth muscles this will 

give relaxation to the airways now long 

term asthma is usually treated with anti-inflammatory steroids so you reduce inflammation of the airwaves of course by doing this will prevent or decrease the frequency of attacks lung 

cancer is another severe obstructive 

respiratory disease and it's the number 

one cancer killer of both women and men 

lung cancer causes tumors in the 

epithelial lining of the bronchi bronchioles and feo lie there are several risk factors for developing lung cancer with cigarette smoke being the number one risk factor even secondhand smoke can increase the risk for lung cancer one and a half more times than a nonsmoker genetics radiation and chemical exposure are also risk factors now the thing with lung cancer is it can be hard to detect early on because the symptoms are so nonspecific and can vary amongst individuals due to the developing tumors that form in the airways this causes the airways to narrow and of course this can cause the patient to have trouble breathing other symptoms include coughing blood-streaked phlegm reoccurring infections and chest pain now as the tumors grow a patient can experience and filtrated lungs and infiltrate can be a dense substance such as pus blood or protein lingering in the lungs lung cancer in some cases can result in the fluid of the pleural cavity causing a viola's who collects in hindering the lungs ability to stretch both cases can cause symptoms that we see in restrictive lung diseases like the ones we mentioned earlier treatment for lung cancer really depends on the class of the tumor such as its cell type and metastasis which is its ability to spread to other parts of the body but these treatments usually include surgical removal radiation therapy or chemotherapy.