![]() ![]() ![]() The air sacs play a crucial role in transferring oxygen into your blood and carbon dioxide out. The trunk is the windpipe or “trachea,” the branches are the “bronchi,” and the leaves are the air sacs or “alveoli.” EmphysemaĮmphysema is the breakdown of the walls of the tiny air sacs (alveoli) at the end of the bronchial tubes, in the “bottom” of your lung. The damaged cilia can’t help clear mucus. But the irritation from chronic bronchitis and/or smoking damages them. Small, hair-like structures on the inside of your bronchial tubes (called cilia) normally move mucus out of your airways. The buildup narrows the tube’s opening, making it hard to get air into and out of your lungs. ![]() In response, the tubes swell and mucus (phlegm or “snot”) builds up along the lining. Chronic bronchitisĬhronic bronchitis irritates your bronchial tubes, which carry air to and from your lungs. COPD can progress gradually, making it harder to breathe over time. A COPD diagnosis means you may have one of these lung-damaging diseases or symptoms of both. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema can both result in COPD. What is COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)?ĬOPD is an umbrella term for a range of progressive lung diseases. Healthy lungs have open airways versus the collapsed and narrow airways of emphysema and bronchitis, conditions grouped under COPD. ![]()
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