There are many emphysema doctors in West Virginia, as well as doctors who treat other lung conditions. Emphysema, in particular, is a chronic lung condition where the air sacs, or alveoli, in the lungs become overstretched. This destroys the ability of the fibers in the lungs to open and close these air sacs when the patient breathes. Emphysema usually begins between the ages of 55 and 75 and is most commonly caused by cigarette smoking. Sudden changes in temperature and humidity can make emphysema worse.
Other causes of emphysema can be living in an area where the air is polluted, inflammation of the alveoli and an inherited alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency. Alpha 1-antitrypsin is a protein that protects the lungs from the elastase. Elastase is an enzyme that destroys and neutralizes invaders in the lungs, but must be deactivated. Alpha 1-antitrypsin normally does this task, but if it's deficient, elastase can go on to destroy the lung's alveoli.
Emphysema has no symptoms its early stages, then presents with shortness of breath that gets worse over the years. Other symptoms are unproductive wheezing and coughing and infections that come and go in the lungs, or in the bronchial tubes. Cigarette smokers are at high risk, as are people who frequently engage in violent, forced breathing, like glass blowers, or musicians who play wind instruments. Right now, emphysema is considered incurable, but the symptoms can be controlled and a patient can live many years with the condition.
What a doctor can do for a patient with emphysema is order lab tests like blood and spirometry tests. Spirometry tests pulmonary function. The doctor can also prescribe drugs like antibiotics and bronchodilators. Some bronchodilators act quickly, within fifteen to twenty minutes, to relieve emphysema's shortness of breath. Others act over the long term, and are only taken every 24 hours or so. Other drugs fight inflammation in the lungs and can sometimes be taken with bronchodilators. Inhalers enable medicines to directly enter the patient's lungs. These medicines can interact right way with the lung's airways and don't have to circulate through the bloodstream. The doctor might even be able to help the patient with breathing exercises.
Another, more drastic treatment the emphysema doctor can resort to is a lung transplant, a risky operation that's only partially successful at best. Most people who have lung transplants don't live more than ten years after the operation. Another type of surgery for emphysema is lung volume reduction surgery, or LVRS. In this operation the surgeon removes about 20 to 30 percent of the diseased tissue. This helps the patient by allowing what's left of the healthy tissue in the lungs to work better.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 