Patient information booklet for COPD Assignment 2022

Patient information booklet for COPD:
What is COPD?
It is a chronic inflammatory lung disease associated with airflow obstruction, mucous
hypersecretion, pulmonary hyperinflation, ciliary dysfunction and gas exchange abnormalities (Berg &
Wright, 2016)
Symptoms of COPD: Some of the common symptoms of COPD include:
 Wheeziness
 Cough with sputum
 Shortness of breath
 Fatigue
 In rare cases, swelling of the leg (State of Victoria, 2020).
Anatomy behind the condition:
COPD is a disease of the lungs and it caused damage to the airways space in the lungs. Damage
to the bronchial and alveolar walls takes place in patient with COPD.
Pathophysiology behind the condition:
COPD occurs because of exposure to irritants like tobacco smoke, pipe and cigar. This exposure
is associated with the initiation of inflammatory process in the lungs which results in increased in
cytokines and eosinophil level. The inflammatory mechanism is associated with progressive airflow
limitation and other pathological changes such as mucous hypersecretion, pulmonary hypertension and
poor gas exchange (Berg & Wright, 2016)
Figure 1: Changes in the structure of lungs of COPD patient
Potential diagnostic test:
The following are the list of diagnostic test for COPD:
 The most common test is the spirometry or lung function test that helps to assess the capacity of
the lungs to breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide