Lung Disease- Symptoms, Complications and Treatment

Contents

In this article, we will take a look at:

• What is lung disease?
• How does lung disease occur?
• Who is prone to lung disease?
• Symptoms of lung disease
• Diagnosis of lung disease
• Complications of lung disease
• Treatment for lung disease

What is Lung Disease?

Lung diseases are those that affect either the whole of or different parts of the lungs and their linings. These cause difficulties in breathing and related complications.

Air enters the body through the nasal cavity and travels through the trachea and into the lungs through various branches of the trachea known as bronchioles. These terminate as alveoli where the gaseous exchange in the blood takes place so that oxygen is absorbed and the carbon dioxide is exhaled out of the body. Diseases that affect the lung can affect any of the above parts.

The different diseases that affect the lungs are:

Those affecting the AIRWAYS

Asthma, which causes persistent inflammation of the airways makes breathing difficult. Asthma has quite a few triggers including the presence of allergens such as dust, pollen, etc, exposure to general air pollutants. Infections affecting the respiratory system can also trigger asthma that causes worsening of the inflammation and may cause the muscles to spasm.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease i.e COPD is a group of diseases affecting the lung by causing obstructions in the airways, making regular respiration difficult. Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema are the two most commonly seen varieties of COPD. In Emphysema, damage to the lungs makes exhalation difficult- hence the air is retained in the lungs. Longstanding inflammation of the bronchioles causes chronic bronchitis.

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic condition. In CF, the mucus from the lungs is not cleared out from the bronchi. This accumulation of the mucus forms a fertile ground for many microbes, thus leaving the patient susceptible to many infections.

Acute Bronchitis usually follows a viral infection.

Diseases affecting the ALVEOLI

Pneumonia is the inflammation of the lungs caused by an infection in the alveoli that is commonly bacterial in nature.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection commonly known as TB. TB can affect other organs as well.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) occurs when there’s severe damage to the lungs as a result of life-threatening illnesses.

Pulmonary Oedema is a condition where the walls of small blood vessels are damaged, thereby causing fluid to leak out of them, which then enters the alveolar sacs and the surrounding space. One of the most common causes of pulmonary oedema is heart failure.

Cancers of the Lung are of many types and are treated according to the size of a tumour, stage of cancer and the location.

Diseases affecting the BLOOD VESSELS

Pulmonary Hypertension is a condition where there is high blood pressure in the vessels of the lungs.

Pulmonary Embolism happens when a blood clot forms in the deeper veins of the legs, causing deep vein thrombosis, breaks off and travels through the vessels and reaches the pulmonary artery and causes obstruction to the blood flow.

Diseases affecting the PLEURA

The pleura are the outer layer of the lungs that cover the lung tissues.

Pleural Effusion where there is collection of fluid in the pleura.

Pneumothorax where air enters the pleura and causes the lung to collapse.

How Does Lung Disease Occur?

Asthma has no properly known causes but it has been observed that there are certain allergic and environmental triggers. COPDs mainly occur as a result of smoking. Studies have shown that people who live in housings with poor ventilation are also prone to COPD.

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease caused due to mutations in the Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene.

Lung diseases can occur either as a complication of infections or due to trauma or intricate problems such as autoimmune diseases affecting the lungs.

Who is prone to lung disease?

• Those with allergies are prone to asthma
• Those who have suppressed immunity due to diabetes or cancers, are on treatment with immunosuppressive medications, or are suffering from immunodeficiency syndromes such as AIDS are prone to infections
• People suffering from heart diseases
• Those with a history of tobacco smoking are highly prone to COPD and lung cancer
• Genetic causes have been noted too

What are the symptoms of lung disease? How is lung disease diagnosed? 

Each lung disease has its own specific symptoms but some general symptoms that have been observed are:

• Difficulty In breathing
• Chest pain
• Fever
• Coughs
• Fatigue
• Blood in the sputum
• Wheezing
• Unexplained weight loss
• Loss of appetite
• Bluish discolouration of the lips and fingernails
• Tightness in the chest

Diagnosis 

The procedures undertaken to diagnose lung diseases include:

• General body examination
• Examination of the chest including palpation, percussion and auscultation to look for any change in breath sounds.
• Blood tests to look for any underlying conditions that may cause the lung disease.
• Allergy test to determine what might have set off an asthma attack
• Chest X-Ray
• CT Scan, PET SCAN and MRI to look for tumours
• Spirometry to test for lung capacity
• Stress Test to look for exercise-induced asthma
• Lung fluid aspiration to look for infections
• Lung biopsy

Complications of Lung Disease

The complications can be rather severe. For example if an asthma attack goes untreated immediately, it can be fatal for the patient. Similarly, untreated COPDs can cause heart diseases as well as lead to lung cancer. COPDs also make the patient vulnerable to more diseases such as pneumonia.

Treatment of Lung Disease

Asthma is usually treated using corticosteroids and nebulisers. Infections are treated using targeted antibiotics. Treatment for COPD includes using bronchodilators and antibiotics. Effusions are treated by draining out the fluid, whereas pneumothorax is managed by inserting a tube into the patient’s chest so that the air is let out and the lung is restored to its full size again.