Monday, June 3, 2013

Diseases Of The Lungs From Smoking

Diseases Of The Lungs From Smoking..
The pneumonia. The term pneumonia is used to describe any inflammation of the lung. There are several different types including:
Lobar pneumonia. Broncho pneumonia.
The term pneumonia has also been introduced in connection with inflammation of the lung other than that associated with lobar pneumonia and broncho pneumonia but there is little to recommend this.

Lobar pneumonia. The inflammation involves the whole of one or more lobes, causing the affected tissue to be airless and solid. The area of consolidation shows on an X-ray as a large dense opacity. The illness has a sudden onset, usually affecting fit young adults. The patient quickly becomes ill with fever, rigors, rapid breathing, pain in the chest, cough and purulent sputum which may be bloodstained.

Before the introduction of antibiotics this disease was frequently fatal but if the patient survived for eight days the temperature suddenly subsided and from then on recovery was usually uneventful. This dramatic course is no longer seen because although the infective organism is a virulent strain of pneumococcus it is readily killed by penicillin.

Broncho pneumonia. Localized patches of consolidation form around the ends of the bronchi usually in the lower part of both lungs. On an X-ray these patches appear as diffusely scattered small opacities . The clinical picture is similar to that seen in lobar pneumonia except that broncho pneumonia occurs in those whose resistance to infection is poor so that the very young, the elderly and those whose health is undermined by chronic disease are particularly prone. Also it is liable to affect anyone whose respiration is depressed when in coma from a cerebral haemorrhage or drug poisoning, or whose chest movements are restricted because of pain following a surgical operation, or whose lungs are oedematous from cardiac or renal failure. Finally it may complicate an acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis.

The causative organisms are those usually found in the nose and upper air passages of healthy people and include streptococci, Haemophilus in-fluenzae and non-virulent strains of pneumococci which, when the body's resistance becomes lowered, spread down the airways to infect the lungs. Antibiotics used to combat these organisms include a combination of intramuscular penicillin and streptomycin or the oral administration of tetracycline or a mpieillin.

Inhalation pneumonia. An area of pneumonia may be caused by the inhalation of food material into the respiratory tract; this may occur when an anaesthetized patient inhales vomit or when an obstructive lesion in the oesophagus, such as a carcinoma, results in food material spilling over into the lungs when the patient is asleep.

Aspiration pneumonia. A segment of a lobe may become infected when pus is aspirated into a bronchus from a site of infection in the upper respiratory tract. It may therefore be a complication of acute sinusitis or occur after the removal of infected teeth.

When the infective organisms causing a pneumonia are especially virulent there is destruction of lung tissue with the formation of an abscess cavity containing a large quantity of pus. The patient becomes extremely ill with high fever, marked constitutional disturbances and clubbing of the fingers. After some days abscess may burst into the bronchus with the expectoration of large amounts of foul-smelling purulent sputum. The patient requires energetic postural drainage skilfully applied by a qualified physiotherapist, in addition to antibiotics.
Pulmonary infarction.

The death or necrosis of an area of lung, caused by the sudden arrest of its arterial blood supply, usually occurs when a clot of blood (thrombus) in a peripheral vein undergoes fragmentation and a part of the clot (embolus) is carried in the circulation until eventually it plugs a terminal pulmonary arteriole.

The Pne ttttt oconioses are a group of lung diseases caused by the inhalation of dust during the course of work. One of the best known is widespread fibrosis of the lungs occurring in coal miners exposed to a mixture of silica and coal dust. More recently the danger of exposure to asbestos has been recognized. Mined in Canada, Italy and South Africa, it is widely used as an insulating material and for the lagging of pipes and boilers. Not only may it cause widespread fibrosis of the lungs but it is also associated with the development of a highly malignant type of growth known its /I mesothelioma.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Recent Comments