Understanding Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

FACT SHEET
Overview of the disease and symptoms:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a progressive lung disorder
associated with airflow obstructions and manifestation of symptoms like
wheezing, sputum production, breathing difficulty and cough. COPD is
caused by long-term exposure to irritants or particulate matters such as
cigarette smoke, chemical fumes and dusts (Spero et al., 2017)
Interesting facts about the disease:
According to the Global Burden of Disease study, 251 million cases of
COPD hve been recorded globally in 2016.
All diagnosed cases of COPD does not occur because of smoking and 20%
of those diagnosed with COPD has never smoked.
COPD costs about 50 million dollars per year to United States health care
cost (World Health Organization, 2019).
Normal anatomy and physiology to the cellular level
The normal pulmonary anatomy and pathophysiology is
characterised by gas exchange from environmental air into the
circulatory system.
The inhaled air is diffused into the blood for systemic circulation
and ATP is produced as energy at the cellular level
The functions like lung compliance, airway resistance and rate of
ventilation plays a role in the mechanism of breathing and ventilating
the alveoli
The whole process is facilitated by nose, trachea, bronchi and lungs
(Gelb, Christenson & Nadel, 2016).
I
mpact of the disease on normal anatomy and
physiology:
However, COPD leads to the following anatomical changes in the
lungs:
Loss of elasticity of the bronchioles resulting in air trapped inside
the lungs
Due to continued exposure to airway pollutants, COPD leads to
airway damage and airway obstruction
The process starts with the inflammation of the bronchial tubes
Inflammation induces series of physiological changes leading to
narrowing of the airways and trapping of air in the lungs
This increases airway resistance and mucous production
Emphysema is also another cause of airway obstruction (Gelb,
Normal anatomy and physiology:
COPD is disease condition that affects various structural and
functional domains in the lungs:
During normal functioning of the respiratory systems, the inhaled air
passes through the windpipes into the lungs through the bronchi.
The bronchioles in the lungs are further divided into bronchioles
which ends in clusters of alveoli or air sacs, which has many tiny
blood capillaries.
The inhaled oxygen then enters the blood stream after passing
through the blood vessels.
Carbon dioxide as a waste product is also released at the same time
which is exhaled (Martini, Nath& Bartholomew, 2015).