Comparing Asthma to Emphysema
Asthma refers to a disease, which causes lung airways to narrow and swell resulting to breathe shortening, wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness. On the other hand, emphysema refers to a kind of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD and involves damaging of the air sacs or alveoli that are located in the lungs. This causes oxygen shortage in the body. Emphysema also damages the elastic fibers holding open the minute airways going to the air sacs, and this causes these airways to collapse when breathing out preventing the air in the lungs from escaping (Mayo Clinic, 2011).
The main cause of asthma is swelling or inflammation that occurs in the airways. There is swelling of the air passage lining and the muscles that surround the airways tighten when asthma attack occurs. Common triggers of asthma include animal far, dust mites, mold, chemicals in food or air, changes in weather, pollen, tobacco smoke and strong emotions such as stress (Busse, 2013). While short-term exposure to these triggers cause asthma, long-term exposure to some of these irritants cause emphysema. Other triggers such as marijuana smoke and coal or silica dust cause emphysema. On rare occasions, emphysema may result due to lack of a protein that works to protect elastic structures found in the lungs (Busse, 2013).
The main symptoms of asthma are wheezing and cough with or with no sputum, breath shortness that gets worse during activity or exercise, intercostals retractions, rapid pulse, and bluish color to the face and lips (Bass, 2011). Unlike asthma, emphysema may take a long time before there is any manifestation of signs or symptoms. The main emphysema symptom is shortness of breath just like in asthma but starts gradually than immediately. Eventually, emphysema results to breathe shortness even when the patient is resting. Other symptoms of emphysema include lips and fingernails turning gray or blue, lack of mental alert and fast heartbeat (Mayo Clinic, 2011)
In testing for asthma, a stethoscope in order to listen to the lungs for the presence of wheezing or other sounds that related to asthma. Other tests to diagnose asthma include allergy testing, which is done by taking blood or skin tests to find out whether the patient is allergic to various substances. Lung function test, chest X-ray and arterial blood gas are other tests that are done. The doctor may request for spirometry to test how much and the speed at which air is moving through the lungs. The test gives a forced expiratory volume value or (FEV1), which is expressed in percentage and is used to classify the obstruction amount. When the FEV1 value is greater than 80%, there is no obstruction, 60%-79% indicate mild obstruction, 40% to 59% indicate moderate obstruction and less than 40% indicate severe obstruction (Bass, 2011).
Diagnosis of emphysema involves a number of laboratory tests, imaging tests as well as lung function tests. Imaging tests include chest X-ray to confirm the presence of advanced emphysema and help rule out any other cause of breathe shortness. Chest X-ray is, however, not enough to accurately diagnose emphysema. Computerized topography or CT is another imaging test that is employed in emphysema diagnosis. A CT scan is usually combined with X-ray images that are taken from different directions creating cross-sectional views of the different internal organs. Laboratory tests in emphysema involve taking blood to determine the efficiency of the lungs in exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide from the blood. Lung function tests are used to measure the amount of air that the lungs can hold and the efficiency of air flow in and out of the lungs. The tests also measure the efficiency of the lungs in delivering oxygen to the bloodstream (Mayo Clinic, 2011).
Asthma treatment aims at controlling the swelling of the airways and avoiding substances that may trigger asthma symptoms. Two kinds of medications that are used in treating asthma are control medicines and quick-relief medicines. Control medicines are used to prevent the occurrence of symptoms especially in people who have moderate or severe asthma. Quick-relief medicines are used to control wheezing, coughing, asthma attack, or trouble breathing. They are also taken before exercise to avoid asthma symptoms. These medicines include inhaled bronchodilators that are short acting and oral corticosteroids, which are taken in case an asthma attack persists (Busse, 2013).
On its part, emphysema has no cure and interventions are aimed at relieving symptoms associated with the condition and to slow disease progression. Some of the medications include smoking cessation drugs such as varenicline and bupropion hydrochloride, bronchodilators to help relieve breath shortness, coughing, and in relaxing constricted airways, inhaled steroids such as corticosteroid drugs to relieve breath shortness and antibiotics to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia or acute bronchitis. Other interventions in emphysema management are pulmonary rehabilitation and supplemental oxygen. In addition, depending on emphysema severity, different types of surgery may be recommended. The two main types of surgery are lung volume reduction where small wedges of the tissues of the lung that are damaged are removed and lung transplant (Mayo Clinic, 2011).
In conclusion, there are some similarities between asthma and emphysema in terms of symptoms, diagnoses, and management. However, in terms of duration, causes, pathophysiology, and treatment interventions significant differences can be noted.
Reference List
Bass, P. (2011). Asthma & Spirometry- How Spirometry Is Used to Diagnose and Manage Asthma. Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://asthma.about.com/od/adultasthma/a/art_AA_spiro.htm
Busse, P. J. (2013). Asthma. Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001196/
Mayo Clinic. (2011). Emphysema. Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/emphysema/DS00296
