According to a widespread classification, lung diseases can be divided into 5 large groups: lung diseases that affect the intrapulmonary airways, lung diseases that affect the alveoli, lung diseases that affect the intrapulmonary blood vessels, lung diseases that affect the " pulmonary interstitium and lung diseases affecting the pleura.
The Respiratory System in brief
The respiratory system is a system that can be divided into 3 main components: the airways, the lungs and the diaphragm and intercostal respiratory muscles.
The airways include the nose, mouth, pharynx, nasopharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi and bronchioles, and constitute the duct that serves to introduce air into the human body and purify it; the lungs represent the sites in which the human body acquires oxygen from the inhaled air, instead of carbon dioxide (a waste product of the organism); finally, the respiratory muscles are the guarantors of the space needed by the lungs to function at their best.
- Neoplastic processes affecting the lungs or pleura;
- Malfunctions of the immune system (autoimmune diseases) that specifically affect lung health;
- Heart diseases (eg: severe cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial ischemia, valvulopathies, etc.);
- The intake of certain drugs (eg chemotherapy and some heart medicines), the consumption of injectable drugs and certain medical treatments (eg radiotherapy);
- Trauma to the chest.
Lung diseases affecting the intrapulmonary airways include:
- Asthma;
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD);
- Acute bronchitis;
- Cystic fibrosis.
ASTHMA
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease, which usually causes respiratory infections, medicines (eg NSAIDs), physical exertion, excessive emotions, stress and smoking, usually due to the effect of allergens (eg pollen and animal hair), the temporary narrowing of intrapulmonary bronchi and bronchioles, thus resulting in an obstacle to the passage of inspired air.
According to the most reliable hypotheses, "asthma has a" genetic origin.
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is inflammatory lung disease, which causes permanent narrowing (which is why it is called chronic and obstructive) of the bronchial tree inside the lungs.
In medicine, the term COPD includes two conditions certainly known to most, which are: chronic bronchitis (chronic inflammation of the bronchi and bronchioles) and pulmonary emphysema (trapping, resulting from an excessive narrowing, of the air along the intrapulmonary airways) .
The most important causative factors of COPD are, in order, cigarette smoking, passive smoking and prolonged exposure to toxic or polluting substances.
ACUTE BRONCHITIS
Acute bronchitis is an abrupt and sudden inflammation of the bronchi and / or bronchioles.
Usually, at the origin of the episodes of acute bronchitis, there are viral or bacterial infections.
CYSTIC FIBROSIS
Cystic fibrosis is a serious hereditary genetic disease, marked by the malfunction of the exocrine glands (such as the pancreas, bronchial glands, intestinal glands, sweat glands and salivary glands). In people with cystic fibrosis, in fact, the aforementioned glands produce a secretion that is abnormally rich in thick mucus, which is an obstacle to the correct outflow of the same secretion and, consequently, a cause of glandular obstruction.
Lung diseases affecting the alveoli
The alveoli, or pulmonary alveoli, are the small sacs located at the end of the intrapulmonary bronchial tree (therefore they are internal pockets of the lungs), in which the air introduced with inspiration ends its stroke and in which the sampling takes place, from part of the "human organism, of the" oxygen contained in the aforementioned air. All "around the alveoli, in fact, take place of the blood capillaries (alveolar capillaries) that allow the blood, which flows internally, to release the carbon dioxide in exchange for the "oxygen of the air".
In the "list of the most important lung diseases affecting the alveoli, take place:
- Pneumonia;
- Tuberculosis;
- L "pulmonary edema;
- Lung cancer;
- Pneumoconiosis.
PNEUMONIA
In medicine, the term "pneumonia" refers to lung disease caused by "inflammation of the alveoli.
As a rule, pneumonia has an "infectious origin: in most cases (classical pneumonia), it is due to bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) e Haemophilus influenzae; more rarely (atypical pneumonia), to bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae And Legionella pneumophila.
TUBERCULOSIS
Tuberculosis is an infectious and contagious disease that usually affects the lungs but may actually affect other organs in the human body as well.
Tuberculosis is an example of pulmonary disease affecting the alveoli, because it begins when the pathogen that causes it - the so-called Koch's bacillus or Mycobacterium tuberculosis - reaches the alveolar sacs.
PULMONARY EDEMA
Pulmonary edema consists in the leakage of fluids from the capillary system, which surrounds the alveoli, towards the inside of the latter; in other words, pulmonary edema is the medical condition in which we witness the transfer of fluids from the capillaries that they surround the pulmonary alveoli to the internal spaces of the latter.
The presence of pulmonary edema deprives the alveoli of the ability to fill with air (because in the alveoli there is liquid that should not be there) and this is an obstacle to the oxygen-carbon dioxide gas exchange.
Heart disease (eg myocardial ischaemia) or conditions such as liver disease, hypertension of the pulmonary veins and occlusion of the pulmonary veins can contribute to the formation of pulmonary edema.
LUNG CANCER
Lung cancer is lung disease resulting from the uncontrolled growth of a cell in the tissue that makes up the lungs.
This condition is one of the lung diseases that affect the alveoli, as in most cases the aforementioned uncontrolled growth process sees an alveolar cell as the protagonist.
The main factor contributing to the development of lung cancer is cigarette smoking.
Did you know that ...
Lung cancer that results from the uncontrolled growth of an alveolar cell, as well as from an intrapulmonary bronchial tree cell, is an example of lung adenocarcinoma.
Lung adenocarcinoma is by far the most common type of lung cancer.
PNEUMOCONIOSIS
By the term "pneumoconiosis", doctors mean any lung disease resulting from the prolonged and continuous inhalation of organic or non-organic dusts.
Numerous medical conditions fall under the heading "pneumoconiosis", including:
- Silicosis, due to the inhalation of silica dust;
- Asbestosis, due to inhalation and contact with asbestos and its powders;
- Berylliosis, due to exposure and contact with beryllium;
- Siderosis, caused by the inhalation of ferruginous dust.
Lung Diseases Affecting Intrapulmonary Blood Vessels
Pulmonary diseases affecting the intrapulmonary blood vessels are the pathologies of the lungs characterized by suffering from the last branches of the pulmonary artery, that is the artery which, originating from the heart, has the task of directing the oxygen-poor blood to the lungs, to give up carbon dioxide in exchange for oxygen.
Pulmonary embolism and pulmonary hypertension are included in the list of pulmonary diseases affecting intrapulmonary blood vessels.
PULMONARY EMBOLISM
Doctors speak of pulmonary embolism when a mobile body (which can be an abnormal blood clot, an air bubble, a lump of fat, etc.) wedges and obstructs one of the vessels in the arterial system responsible for transporting it to the lungs. blood poor in oxygen.
In medicine, the abnormal presence of a mobile body in a blood vessel is called an embolus.
Abnormal blood clots, air bubbles, lumps of fat, clots of amniotic fluid, cholesterol crystals, talc granules, some parasites and foreign bodies such as needles or splinters can act as emboli.
LUNG HYPERTENSION
Pulmonary hypertension is the abnormal and persistent rise in blood pressure inside the pulmonary artery (or one of its branches) and inside the right heart cavities (hence the right atrium and ventricle).
On a purely diagnostic level, doctors speak of pulmonary hypertension when the blood pressure in the pulmonary artery and in the right cavities of the heart exceeds 25 mmHg.
Lung Diseases Affecting the Pulmonary Interstitium
With lung diseases that affect the "interstitium of the lungs, doctors intend to describe the pathologies of the lungs in which there is suffering of the connective tissue interposed between the alveoli and deputy to give mechanical support to the latter."
The most important lung diseases affecting the pulmonary interstitium are the so-called interstitial disease and pulmonary fibrosis.
Given the similarity of these two pathologies, the article below only reports the description of pulmonary fibrosis.
LUNG FIBROSIS
In medicine, the abnormal and disproportionate formation of scar tissue all around the alveoli, ie where the interstitium extends, is called "pulmonary fibrosis".
The presence of the aforesaid tissue causes the lungs to harden and lose their elasticity, which, as a logical consequence of the changes just mentioned, lose their normal functionality.
Pulmonary fibrosis can arise for unknown reasons (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis) or as a result of very specific circumstances, such as: prolonged exposure to toxic dust, radiotherapy, prolonged use of chemotherapy or autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, sarcoidosis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Did you know that ...
In people with pulmonary fibrosis, the lungs are covered with scars, which alter their "elasticity" and "crush" the adjacent alveoli.
Lung Diseases affecting the Pleura
The pleura is the thin serous membrane, composed of two sheets (visceral pleura and parietal pleura), which envelops the lungs and serves to favor their dilation and their gas exchange activity.
Examples of lung diseases affecting the pleura are: pleural effusion, pneumothorax, pleurisy and pleural mesothelioma.
PLEURIC SPILLAGE
The term "pleural effusion" indicates the "abnormal accumulation of fluid inside the pleural cavity, ie the space between the visceral pleura and the parietal pleura."
Pleural effusion is a typical complication of lung diseases, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, asbestosis, lung cancer, etc.
PNEUMOTORACE
In the medical field, the word "pneumothorax" identifies the abnormal infiltration of air inside the pleural cavity.
Pneumothorax can have a traumatic origin or it can depend on other lung diseases (eg COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, etc.).
PLEURISY
Usually related to viral or bacterial infections, pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura with a sudden and abrupt appearance.
PLEURIC MESOTHELIOMA
Pleural mesothelioma is the malignant tumor that originates from one of the cells making up the pleura.
Mainly related to prolonged exposure to asbestos, pleural mesothelioma is a serious neoplasm, with good infiltrating capacity and a moderate metastasizing power.
- Dyspnea, i.e. difficulty in breathing. This is the symptom that characterizes every lung disease, as it is the natural response of the human organism in front of a suffering of the lungs;
- Chest pain
- Cough;
- Recurring sense of fatigue and tiredness;
- Weight loss for no reason
- Confusion;
- Feeling of fainting (presyncope and syncope);
- Tachycardia and / or irregular heartbeat;
- Cyanosis;
- Fever. Regarding fever, it is important to specify that it is a typical symptom of lung diseases with an "infectious origin.
In general, lung disease of mild clinical significance merely makes breathing difficult and causes cough and mild chest pain; on the contrary, a clinically relevant lung disease is responsible for a much more complex symptomatological picture, which leads to dyspnoea, chest pain and cough followed by many (if not all, in the most critical cases) of the aforementioned disorders.
lung function assessment tests and lung-related imaging (chest x-ray, chest CT scan, and / or chest MRI).Depending on the circumstances, then, the doctors could follow up on the aforementioned investigations with further in-depth examinations, such as: sputum analysis, chest PET scan, thoracentesis, arterial blood gas analysis and lung biopsy.
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