Lung and chest diseases

Lung and chest diseases involve deformities, illnesses and disorders afflicting the chest cavity and lungs. These diseases can cause respiratory distress to patients across age groups.

Cystic fibrosis – It is an inherited disorder that affects the lungs and digestive system of your body. Common symptoms include persistent cough, mucus, exercise intolerance and repeated lung infections.

Asthma – Asthma is a respiratory condition causing the airways in your lungs to narrow and swell. In this condition, your lungs become inflamed and produce extra mucus causing difficulty in breathing.

COPD – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory lung disease. It occurs when your airflow becomes obstructed causing difficulty in breathing.

Chest trauma – Any injury or trauma that involves the chest cavity, rib cage and heart is considered chest trauma. Chest trauma is usually a result of physical injury to the chest region.

Tumours – Lung tumours occur when the cells inside your lung divide and grow at an abnormal rate. Lung tumours can be cancerous and non-cancerous and cause symptoms such as pain in the chest, wheezing and weight loss.

Pneumonia – Pneumonia is a common lung infection causing inflammation in one or both of the air sacs. In this condition, your air sacs fill with fluid or pus causing cough, fever, chills and difficulty breathing.

Lung nodules – Lung nodules or pulmonary nodules is a condition in which abnormal growth of masses and tissues occur inside your lungs. There can be a single nodule growth or multiple.

Tuberculosis (TB) – Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection affecting the lungs. This disease can also impact other parts of your body. Common symptoms include chest pain, breathing problems and persistent cough.

Chronic bronchitis – Bronchi is the large passages leading to the lungs. Chronic bronchitis is a condition that causes chronic inflammation of the bronchi.

Interstitial lung disease – An interstitial lung disease is a group of diseases that cause scarring of the lungs. Common symptoms include dry coughing, shortness of breath and exercise intolerance.

Pulmonary hypertension – Pulmonary hypertension happens when the blood flow in the arteries of the lung increases. It can lead to the narrowing of blood vessels in the lungs.

Bronchiectasis – In this condition, the airways in your lungs widen making it difficult to clear mucus. It can occur due to an infection or underlying medical condition such as cystic fibrosis.

The treatment protocol of a lung and chest disease depends upon the type of condition, the extremity of symptoms, age and general health. Your pulmonologist will offer respiratory relief followed by treatment of the underlying cause.