ECM Synthesis Of Asthm Airway Remodelling

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that impacts a person’s and their family’s quality of life. In people with asthma, their airway becomes constricted with swelling and excessive mucous. This constriction or narrowing of the airway makes it difficult for the person with asthma to breath (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009). If asthma is left uncontrolled, it leads to further wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, tiredness, and stress. (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009).

Asthma is one of the most prevalent respiratory diseases. It is a chronic condition with recurring, exacerbations characterized by bronchial hyper-responsiveness and inflammation leading to airflow obstruction (Cabana, et al., 2014). Over time, the chronic inflammation may cause permanent damage to the airway (Wenzel, 2012). Asthma affects people of all ages but typically begins in childhood (Wenzel, 2012). This paper will explore the pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation. Additionally, it will cover how age and behavior can impact the pathophysiology and influence the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Finally, mind maps will illustrate, visually, the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment of both the chronic and acute phase of asthma.

Known also as “Bronchial asthma”, asthma is a long term inflammatory illness. It is specific breathing problem which is caused due to decreasing the space of the airways. The respiratory system takes oxygen into the lung and discards carbon dioxide. The airways play an important role in breathing, when we breathe, the air passes in the body through nose or mouth, and goes down to the lungs. The airways conduct to the chest, where it diverge into two (bronchioles), and then every bronchiole divides into small tubes till they reach the nodes in the lungs. When these

Asthma is a condition that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and more than 5 million people in the UK are asthmatic, about one in thirteen people. It is a lung disease that affects your airways – the tubes that carry air to and from your lungs. It causes the muscles in these tubes to contract, the tubes themselves to swell and also causes sticky mucus to be produced. All of these factors can make it very difficult for a sufferer to breathe properly.

breathing test to measure lung strength. Spirometry is a test used to help diagnose asthma.

Asthma is a disorder of the bronchial mucosa which causes bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Patients who suffer from asthma have a hyperresponsiveness of the airways which causes narrowing to stimuli that illicit no bronchoconstriction in patients without asthma or airway disease (McCance, 2014). Expert Panel 3 of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program defines asthmas as “a common chronic disorder of the airways that is complex and characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, airflow obstruction, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and an underlying inflammation. The interaction of these features of asthma determines the clinical manifestations and severity of asthma and the response to treatment (Fanta, 2017).”

In regards to chronic bronchitis and emphysema, the pathophysiological changes are the “chronic inflammation and small airways, resulting in reduced airflow and gradual destruction of the alveoli.” In patients with chronic bronchitis,

Asthma is a lung disease that affects approximately ten million people in the United States. (Cramer 2) In people with asthma, the airways of the lungs are hypersensitive to irritants such as cigarette smoke or allergens. When these irritants are inhaled, the airways react by constricting, or narrowing. Some people with asthma have only mild, intermittent symptoms that can be controlled without drugs. In others, the symptoms are chronic, severe, and sometime life threatening. Although researchers have learned more about the underlying causes of asthma in recent years, a definitive treatment is still unavailable. In the last decade, asthma deaths worldwide have rose 42%. (Cramer 2) The reasons for this increase are not clear; however,

Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6637461 Bousquet, J., Van Cauwenberge, P., & Khaltaev, N. (2001). Allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 108(5), 147- 334. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60130-X Dimetapp 12

Due to inflammation located in the breathing tubes, extra mucus and swollen airways are present. Airway hyper-responsiveness causes twitchy lungs or airways. Bronchoconstriction tightens smooth muscles, consequently making it harder to breathe. All three of these together are contributors to asthma.

Anderson (2005) states that asthma is one of the major and most common chronic inflammatory disorder that damages or changes the structure of the airways, causing problem in the respiration process due to excess secretion of mucus, and hyperactivity of the cells of the airway. In 2012, the World Health

Asthma is a chronic disease that affects the breathing tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. (Arshad, S. H., & Babu, K. s., 2009). Asthma is sometimes referred to as “bronchial asthma.” With asthma, the airways are inflamed, therefore

The pathophysiology of Asthma includes inflammation of the airway. The way in which this works is from an irritant which can include dust, pollen, cedar, or cat hair. When a reaction occurs, the airways become inflamed and narrow. The narrowing occurs because once the inflammatory response is triggered by an irritant, histamines, immunoglobulin E antibodies, and leukotrienes are released. Because of this, mucous production occurs. Since the bronchioles are inflamed and narrow, breathing becomes difficult. Wheezing sounds can be heard due to the lack of air being able to easily move in and out of the narrowed bronchioles.

ANP plays important role in vasodilation, bronchorelaxation, pulmonary vascular permeability, and surfactant production and action in the airways. It also may have bronchoprotective effects in an asthma attack because it has been found in

Asthma is characterized by T helper cell 2 (Th2) type inflammation, leading to airway hyper responsiveness and tissue remodeling. Th2 cell-driven inflammation is likely to represent an abnormal response to harmless airborne particles. These reactions are normally suppressed by regulatory T cells, which maintain airway tolerance. The anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 is likely to