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Essay On Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [copd]
It means a group of lung diseases which plug airflow when a person exhales. This makes breathing process increasingly difficult. COPD includes Chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and asthmatic bronchitis . Each of these cases causes ill health and death worldwide.[1]
COPD is not a new condition. Previously, physicians used different expressions to describe what we now describe as COPD. Swiss physician Bonet (1679) referred to ‘voluminous lungs’ , Italian anatomist Giovanni Morgagni (1769) reported 19 cases of ‘turgid’ lungs and British physician Charles Badham (1814) identified bronchiolitis and chronic bronchitis as disabling health conditions.[2]

Signs and symptoms

The three cardinal symptoms of COPD are:[3]
1- sputum production …show more content…

The inhaled irritants cause accumulation of inflammatory cells such as (neutrophils, B cells, CD8+ T-lymphocytes and macrophages). When these cells activated , they initiate an inflammatory cascade that lead to release of inflammatory mediators such as[ tumour necrosis factor alpha , C-reactive protein , interferon gamma , MMP-9, interleukins (IL-1, IL-6, IL-8) and fibrinogen]. The inflammatory mediators enhance the inflammatory process , cause tissue damage and systemic effects. The chronic inflammation leads to structural changes in the lung which lead to restriction of the airflow.[13]
The Structural changes; remodeling of the airway in COPD is the result of the inflammatory response in compination with COPD and cause airways narrowing. Factors contribute to this:
-peri bronchial fibrosis
-build-up of scar

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