The Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) / Emphysema

The Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)/ Emphysema
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The Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)/ Emphysema
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an anatomic alteration that takes place in the lung. Emphysema is characterized by airspace enlargement that is abnormal that is distal as far as the terminal bronchioles. The disease is also characterized by the destructive changes of the alveolar walls (Voelkel, Gomez-Arroyo & Shiro Mizuno, 2011). The COPD syndrome is also understood to exhibit extra-pulmonary systemic manifestations. On its first discovery, the disease was attributed to chronic bronchitis. However, in the modern view, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been linked to lifestyle conditions such as cigarette smoking, which causes chronic inflammation of the airways resulting in the damage of the airspaces (Jindal, 2013). Moreover, cigarette smoking largely maintains and makes the airway inflammation more dominant. The disease has also been characterized by the loss of the neighboring alveoli. This disappearance is largely linked to bronchiolitis or airway inflammation, which is due to proteases gradient released from macrophages and neutrophils (James & Narayan, 2013). The protease gradient has been deemed responsible as far as the digestion of alveolar septae that normally surrounds the small airways is concerned.
The emphysema is also characterized by some genetic conditions. Studies reveal that individuals exhibiting the genetic alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency tend not to develop emphysema except for situations where they smoke cigarettes (Jindal, 2013). In other situations, genetic mutations in which genes encoding the copper transporter protein has been linked to congenital emphysema that causes the Menkes disease, a condition that derives close relationship with the ‘blotchy mouse’ emphysema (Voelkel, Gomez-Arroyo & Shiro Mizuno, 2011). With respect to the environmental factors, studies reveal that autoimmunity or malnutrition is also etiological factors of emphysema in non-smoking patients. COP...