Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

LaToya Stevens

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a disease of the respiratory system which makes it difficult to breathe. According to Tortora & Derrickson, “the principal types of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease are emphysema and chronic bronchitis” (Tortora & Derrickson, 2007). The lungs use the alveoli which are the air sacs at the end of the branches in the lung that expand with inhalation and deflate with exhalation. COPD can occur when the alveoli lose their elasticity, the area between the air sac get inflamed, there can be an increase in mucus production.

Emphysema is when there is damage to the alveoli which lose their elasticity and destroys them. The alveoli once damaged cannot be repaired. When the alveoli are damaged the lungs are not able to exchange oxygen through the blood which causes shortness of breath. “As increasing numbers of alveolar wall are damaged, lung elastic recoil decreases due to loss of elastic fibers, and an increasing amount of air becomes trapped in the lungs at the end of exhalation” (Tortora & Derrickson, 2007).

Chronic Bronchitis is the excessive production of mucus with a cough. The mucus is a byproduct of airway irritants. The cilia are not able to move the mucus out of the airway. The excessive mucus that is produced by the irritants blocks the airways which make it difficult to breathe.
COPD is a progressive disease that is chronic in that there is no cure, because damage to the lungs cannot be reversed, and can be caused by any number of things from smoking, inhalation of second hand smoke to inhaled pollutants.

Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. (2007). Introduction to the Human Body: The essentials of anatomy and physiology (7th Edition ed.). (B. Roesch, K. Trost, & K. Tavares, Eds.) New York, New York, United States of America: John Wiley & Sons, inc.