Lung Disease; Emphysema

Emphysema is a chronic respiratory that caused an enlargement of the air spaces in the lung, causing a decrease in lung function, and often, breathlessness.

Those who had emphysema, their lung need to support the physical shape and function of the lung are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD (pulmonary refers to the lungs). Emphysema is called an obstructive lung disease because the destruction of lung tissue around smaller airways, called alveoli, makes these airways unable to hold their functional shape upon exhalation.



In United States, there are 1.8 million people diagnosed with emphysema, which ranks fifteenth among chronic conditions that cause limitations of activity. Emphysema is the most common cause of death from lung disease (respiratory disease) in the United States, and is the fourth most common cause of death overall. Emphysema mostly caused by smoking, and rarely comes from inherited defect (genetics).

Emphysema is most common among people aged 50 and older. Those with inherited emphysema may experience the onset as early as their thirties or forties Men are more likely than women to develop emphysema, but female cases are increasing as the number of female smokers rises.

Main article: Lung Disease