Obstructive Lung Diseases at a Glance

Emphysema
- abnormal enlargement of airspace
- distal to terminal bronchiole
- with destruction of cell walls
- no obvious fibrosis

Distal acinar emphysema / Paraseptal emphysema : distal part of acini (alveoli) predominantly involved.

Centriacinar emphysema / centrilobular emphysema : central or proximal parts of acini of bronchiole. Associated with smoking and chronic bronchitis

Panacinar emphysema : acini that enlarging, from bronchiole to terminal alveoli. Associated with alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency

Irregular emphysema : acinus is irregularly involved


Chronic Bronchitis
- hypersecretion of mucous


Bronchiectasis
- permanent dilation of bronchi (one of two subdivisions of the trachea serving to convey air to and from the lungs) and bronchioles (one of approximately six generations of increasingly finer subdivisions of the bronchi)
- due to destruction of muscle and elastic tissue
- which are caused by chronic necrotizing infection


Asthma
- an inflammatory disease of the lungs
- characterized by reversible (in most cases) airway obstruction