• Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease - Introduction
• Highlights
• Causes
• Symptoms
• Diseases with Similar Symptoms
• Complications
• Risk Factors

Introduction

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition in which there is limited airflow in the lungs. The disease develops and worsens over time. COPD is not reversible, but therapy can slow its progress.

Although patients can breathe in normally, changes in the small airways cause the walls to narrow during expiration, making it hard to breathe out. In many patients with COPD, the small sacs where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged are destroyed, gradually starving the...