Emphysema of the lungs, what is it? - Symptoms, treatment, life forecast

This lung disease, like emphysema, is accompanied by a cough with sputum, shortness of breath, pneumothorax and symptoms of respiratory failure.

Pathology is characterized by a high risk of complications from the lungs and heart, disability and a significant percentage of deaths.

Emphysema of the lungs - what is it and how to treat the disease?

Emphysema of the lung is a disease in which the lung alveoli expand and their walls undergo destruction, as a result of which the lung tissue changes pathologically. Along with asthmatic bronchitis and asthma, pathology refers to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease( COPD).

From the Greek "emphysema" translates as "swelling".Among the male population, the disease is diagnosed twice as often, in the elderly, the risk of its development increases.

Emphysema has a progressive nature and is a chronic disease. Due to prolonged inflammation and narrowing of the airway lumen, the lung tissue becomes less elastic, and after expiration in the lungs, more air remains than usual.

Connective tissue begins to expand( pneumosclerosis in emphysema), replacing air patches, and these changes are irreversible.

Emphysema is localized and diffuse. In the first case, not all lungs are damaged, but only their individual parts. This variety is often caused by congenital disorders.

In the diffuse type, all pulmonary tissue is affected, which can be a complication of obstructive or allergic bronchitis.

Aside from these forms of emphysema :

• Vesicular is the most common, in which changes are irreversible, in most cases this is a complication of other pulmonary diseases;
• Vicar - an increase in the volume of one site with simultaneous compression of others, while the alveoli are not affected;
• Aging - age-related increase in stiffness of tissues without their destruction, deformation of the lungs;
• McLaude Syndrome - one-sided lesion of blood vessels and lung tissue of an unclear etiology;
• Interstitial - accumulation of air under the pleura, between the lobes and in other areas due to rupture of the bronchi or alveoli;
• Acute swelling of the lung tissue develops after removal of one of the lungs or due to an asthma attack.

The causes of the emphysema of are:

1. Disturbed microcirculation in the lung tissue;
2. Bronchial asthma and other obstructive chronic pulmonary pathologies;
3. Inflammation in the alveoli or bronchi;
4. Smoking, including passive, is considered as one of the main factors of emphysema;
5. Constant exposure to the lungs of toxic compounds, for example, when employed in industrial production;
6. Hereditary deficiency of α-1 antitrypsin, which leads to the fact that proteolytic enzymes begin to destroy alveolar tissues.

Under the influence of these factors, elastic lung tissue is damaged, its ability to normal process of filling with air and its removal is disrupted.

Small branches of bronchial tubes stick together, lung tissue becomes swollen and overstrained, air cysts, or bulls, are formed. Their rupture leads to pneumothorax. With emphysema, the lungs are enlarged and resemble a sponge with large pores.

Symptoms of emphysema

Symptoms of emphysema of diffuse lung:

• dyspnea even with small physical exertion;
• sharp weight loss;
• barrel shaped chest;
• stoop;
• the spacing between the ribs is expanded;
• protrusion of supraclavicular pits;
• attenuated and absent breathing while listening to a phonendoscope.

With diffuse emphysema, the X-ray shows increased transparency of the lung zone and a low-lying diaphragm. The heart begins to take a more vertical position and increases respiratory failure.

Symptoms of emphysema of a localized type develop due to the fact that the affected areas of the lungs are pressurized into healthy areas, resulting in pronounced abnormalities in breathing until the attacks of suffocation.

The risk of rupture of air subpleural cavities is high, in which air penetrates into the cavity of the pleura.

Treatment of emphysema

Methods of treating emphysema are aimed at eliminating respiratory failure and the causes of lung tissue damage, such as a disease.

The first condition for successful therapy is a complete cessation of smoking. This is helped not only by special drugs containing nicotine, but also by the patient's motivation and psychological help.

When emphysema develops due to a different pathology, funds are used to treat a primary disease. These are drugs from the group of antibiotics and expectorants( mucolytics), selected by the doctor individually.

To facilitate breathing, exercises are shown that allow you to use a larger volume of lungs in the air exchange.

Segmental, acupressure or classical massage is performed for better sputum discharge. To expand the lumen of the bronchi medications are prescribed Salbutamol, Berodual or Theophylline.

Variable delivery to the lungs of air with a low and normal oxygen content is used if the respiratory failure is low. The course of this treatment of emphysema is designed for 2-3 weeks.

• In severe malfunction of the respiratory process, inhalations are carried out with small doses of pure oxygen or ionized air, and in extreme cases - ventilation of the lungs.

Bullous emphysema often requires surgical intervention, the purpose of which is to remove air cysts( bulls).The operation is performed in a classical way or minimally invasive( with the help of an endoscope), and its timely prevention prevents the development of pneumothorax.

Emphysema of lungs - life and mortality forecast

Without correct and timely treatment, pathology progresses steadily, cardiac and respiratory failure develops. This leads to disability of the patient and his disability. In this case, with lung emphysema, the prognosis of life is unfavorable, and a lethal outcome may occur earlier than in 3-4 years.

But if therapy is performed, inhalations are regularly used, then despite the irreversibility of lung injury, the quality of life can be improved.

Theoretically, a relatively favorable prognosis is a life expectancy of 4-5 years, but under good conditions a person can live with emphysema 10-20 years and longer.

Complications of

If pathology progresses rapidly or treatment is not performed, such complications of pulmonary emphysema develop:

• obstructive pulmonary ventilation failure;
• pulmonary hypertension;
• cardiac heart failure and as a consequence, ascites, leg swelling, hepatomegaly.

The most dangerous consequence is spontaneous pneumothorax, in which it is necessary to drain the pleural cavity and aspirate the air.