Review Article

Year : 2019 | Volume : 3 | Issue : 1 | Page : 1 - 6

A review on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

M. G. Visha

Department of Pathology, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Address for correspondence:

Dr. M. G. Visha, Department of Pathology, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha University, Chennai ‐ 600 077, Tamil Nadu, India.

E‐mail: generalpath2015@gmail.com

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) commonly occurs in the older age. It is a progressive lung disease which is due to a group of disorders such as refractory asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. Most people with COPD have both emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and they experience difficulty in breathing. The disease is mainly characterized by increased breathlessness. Acute exacerbations of COPD are mainly caused by bacteria such as nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Chlamydia pneumoniae. The severity of the exacerbation is based on three cardinal symptoms. The three cardinal symptoms are increased sputum volume, increased sputum purulence, and increased dyspnea compared with baseline. Patients experiencing two symptoms are considered to have moderate and all three symptoms are considered to have severe disease status. Antibacterial therapy is the definite treatment for the COPD.

Keywords: Bacteria, breathlessness, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

How to cite this article:

Visha MG. A review on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Int J Clinicopathol Correl 2019;3:1-6.