·
COPD
- Facts
·
1. The air that you breathe goes down your
windpipe into tubes in your lungs called bronchial tubes or airways.
2. Within the lungs, your bronchial tubes branch
into thousands of smaller, thinner tubes called bronchiole. These tubes end in
bunches of tiny round air sacs called alveoli.
3. Small blood vessels called capillaries run
through the walls of the air sacs. When air reaches the air sacs, oxygen passes
through the air sac walls into the blood in the capillaries. At the same time,
carbon dioxide (a waste gas) moves from the capillaries into the air sacs. This
process is called gas exchange.
4. The airways and air sacs are elastic
(stretchy). When you breathe in, each air sac fills up with air like a small
balloon. When you breathe out, the air sacs deflate and the air goes out.
5. In COPD, less air flows in and out of the
airways because of one or more of the following:
·
o The airways and air sacs lose their elastic
quality.
o The walls between many of the air sacs are
destroyed.
o The walls of the airways become thick and
inflamed.
o The airways make more mucus than usual, which
can clog them.
National Institutes of
Health http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/copd
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