LUNG DISEASES

Common Lung Diseases | Diagnostics and Therapy | PDF Lung Diseases

Lung diseases can affect the airways (trachea, bronchi, bronchioles) and/or the lung tissue as well as the pulmonary blood vessels. A rough distinction is made between acute and chronic lung diseases. Among the acute diseases, infections are the most common (flu, bronchitis, pneumonia). Among the chronic diseases, bronchial asthma and chronic bronchitis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) predominate.

Common lung diseases

Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. The consequences are recurrent attacks of shortness of breath to acute shortness of breath and coughing. Asthma sufferers have hypersensitive, often chronically inflamed airways. The bronchial tubes react to various stimuli with swelling of the mucous membrane and cramping of the airway muscles. This causes the bronchial tubes to constrict so that it is difficult to breathe in and especially difficult to breathe out.

Basically, a distinction is made between allergic (extrinsic) and non-allergic (intrinsic or endogenous) asthma. However, there are also mixed forms. The causes of bronchial asthma are only partially known and are the subject of further intensive research. Genetic and multiple environmental factors play a role in the development of the disease. Important risk factors are cigarette smoke, hay fever and other allergic diseases as well as certain medications.

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is a collective term for a group of chronic diseases of the lungs with the main symptoms of cough, increased sputum, shortness of breath on exertion and sometimes acute shortness of breath. Among these diseases, chronic obstructive bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema (overinflation of the lungs) are particularly worthy of mention.

It is caused by irreversibly inflamed and permanently narrowed or collapsed airways, whereby exhalation in particular is impeded. In contrast to asthma, this narrowing can only be partially, but not completely, improved by medication. Risk factors for COPD are genetic factors, but especially smoking. About 90 percent of all people affected are smokers or ex-smokers. About 20 percent of long-term cigarette smokers develop COPD. Colloquial terms are therefore "smoker's lung" for COPD and "smoker's cough" for the main symptom.

Our offer Diagnostics and therapy of lung diseases

• Medical history on family and lifestyle
• Physical examination with inspection, palpation and auscultation (listening)
• Pulmonary function test +/- lysis (use of diagnostic drugs)
  Bicycle exercise test (ergometry)
• Laboratory tests
• Smoking cessation counselling
• Training on the disease
• drug therapy
• Vaccinations
• DMP/Curaplan bronchial asthma and COPD