Lung diseases

The disease may be acute or chronic, with the greatest risk factor for the chronic variant being smoking. Chronic bronchitis is a disease in which the damage to their airways (bronchi) is permanent. Periodic mucilaginous cough that is often associated with a virus is counts as the deteriorating stage for chronic bronchitis. The cause of bronchitis is usually a virus, but in spite of this, chronic bronchitis is often treated with antibiotics, particularly if the symptoms include fever. Bronchitis can develop into pneumonia.

The typical features for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are a slowly developing, primarily incurable airway obstruction and a impaired exhalation flow. The disease consists of three subsidiary factors: chronic bronchitis, airway obstruction and emphysema. Emphysema is characterised by the small pulmonary alveoli being expanded but decreased in number and create less surface area for oxygen transfer to the blood and thus a sensation of it being difficult to get air. Associated diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, depression and lung cancer are more common among COPD patients than other people the same age.

Typical symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

• breathlessness
• cough 
• secretion of mucous from the airways

In the beginning, the patient does not necessarily notice their symptoms, but in time these become more pronounced, particularly if the patient smokes. The more exposed to tobacco smoke someone is, the greater the risk of developing COPD. Stopping smoking and starting to exercise are among the central tenets of treatment.

When treating COPD, the aim is to alleviate the symptoms, improve quality of life, slow down the progress of the disease and prevent deterioration. The medical treatment of COPD is individual and depends on factors such as the quantity of symptoms and the risk of deterioration. The aim of medical treatment is to alleviate the patient’s symptoms and prevent deterioration. The individual picture of the disease and medical treatment of this is reassessed at each follow-up appointment.

Sleep apnoea involves recurrent pauses in breathing that last at least ten seconds (apnoea) or the suppression of breathing (hypopnoea), that is due to upper airway obstruction during sleep. If the apnoea leads to disrupted sleep, tiredness during the day or other symptoms, it is referred to as obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome. 

Typical symptoms of sleep apnoea are

• tiredness during the day
• pauses in breathing, apnoea
• waking up feeling like you are being suffocated
• dry mouth
• night sweats
• needing to urinate at night
• headache in the mornings
• sleeplessness
• snoring

Risk factors for sleep apnoea include obesity, structural anatomical defects in the face and upper airways, blocked nose and an under-active thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). Medication that affects the central nervous system, alcohol and smoking also increase the risk of sleep apnoea.

Sleep apnoea is treated using lifestyle changes, a CPAP mask, mandibular advancement device and, as a last resort, with surgery (e.g. surgery of the upper airways, maxillofacial surgery or obesity surgery [which mainly serves to relieve the symptoms]).

Asthma is a chronic lung disease in which the mucous membranes of the lungs are in an inflammatory state and the airways contstrict. An intense and chronic asthma inflammation can damage the mucous membranes.

Common symptoms of asthma:

• cough and sputum formation caused by infection in the mucous membranes
• wheezing breath sounds and breathlessness caused by constriction of the bronchi

Symptoms often appear on exertion and also in the evening and morning. Asthma symptoms often begin with a viral infection in the airways, physical exertion, cold air or in conjunction with exposure to allergens. Most often it is a question of combination of more than one cause, e.g. infection, physical exertion and stress. Asthma is almost always associated with some form of chronic nasal catarrh and sometimes polyps in the nasal cavity.

Asthma treatment aims at freedom from symptoms, normal lung function and the prevention of deterioration.

Lung cancer is, among men, the second most common and, for women, the fourth most common form of cancer in Finland. By far the most important risk factor for lung cancer is smoking, which caused 80–90% of all cases. One quarter of all cases are diagnosed in asymptomatic patients and the symptoms are most often late symptoms indicating that the disease has spread.

At the time of diagnosis, the most common symptoms are:

• cough
• breathlessness
• chest pain
• weight loss
• bloody cough
• repeated pneumonia