Lung disease
Definition
Lung disease is any disease or disorder where lung function is impaired. There are three major physiologic categories of lung diseases:
1. Obstructive lung disease - a decrease in the exhaled air flow caused by a narrowing or blockage of the airways, such as with asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
2. Restrictive lung disease - a decrease in the total volume of air that the lungs are able to hold. Often, this is due to a decrease in the elasticity of the lungs themselves or caused by a problem related to the expansion of the chest wall during inhalation.
3. A defect in the ability of the lung’s air sac tissue to move oxygen into a person’s blood.
Most lung diseases actually involve a combination of these categories, such as emphysema, which involves both airflow obstruction and oxygenation problems.
Major lung diseases include:
- Asthma
- BOOP
- chronic bronchitis
- COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- emphysema
- interstitial lung disease
- pulmonary fibrosis
- sarcoidosis
Other lung diseases include:
- asbestosis
- aspergilloma
- aspergillosis
- aspergillosis - acute invasive
- atelectasis
- eosinophilic pneumonia
- lung cancer
- metastatic lung cancer
- necrotizing pneumonia
- pleural effusion
- pneumoconiosis
- pneumocystosis
- pneumonia
- pneumonia in immunodeficient patient
- pneumothorax
- pulmonary actinomycosis
- pulmonary alveolar proteinosis
- pulmonary anthrax
- pulmonary Arteriovenous malformation
- pulmonary edema
- pulmonary embolus
- Pulmonary histiocytosis X (eosinophilic granuloma)
- pulmonary hypertension
- pulmonary nocardiosis
- pulmonary tuberculosis
- Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease
- rheumatoid lung disease
This list is not complete. There are other lung diseases and disorders.
by Brenda A. Kuper, M.D.
Medical Encyclopedia
All ArmMed Media material is provided for information only and is neither advice nor a substitute for proper medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional who understands your particular history for individual concerns.