Respiratory System Diseases

Pathophysiology
 Respiration and Health

• The presence of disease in the upper or lower respiratory tract

means that homeostasis is threatened.
• Upper Respiratory Tract Infections
• These infections involve the nasal cavities, pharynx, or larynx.
• Some infections, such as “strep throat”, can lead to systemic
body infection.

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Sites of upper respiratory infections

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 Sinusitis

• Sinusitis is infection of the cranial sinuses within the facial

skeleton that drain into nasal cavities.
• It occurs when nasal congestion blocks the sinus openings and
is relieved when drainage is restored.
• Pain and tenderness over the lower forehead and cheeks, and
toothache, accompany this condition.

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 Otitis Media
• Otitis media is bacterial infection of the
middle ear.
• Children suffer when a nasal infection spreads
to the middle ear by way of the auditory tube
and antibiotics are usually used to clear the
infection.
• Sometimes drainage tubes (called
tympanostomy tubes) are inserted into the
eardrums of children with recurrent
infections.

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 • Tonsillitis
• Tonsillitis is infection of tonsils and recurrent
infections that make breathing or swallowing
difficult may be relieved by a tonsillectomy.
• Laryngitis
• Laryngitis is an infection of the larynx and
usually results in a loss of voice.
• Persistent hoarseness is a warning sign of
cancer.

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 Lower Respiratory Tract Disorders

• Lower respiratory infections include:

1) acute bronchitis, an infection of primary and secondary
bronchi;
2) pneumonia involving a bacterial or viral infection of the lungs;
and
3) pulmonary tuberculosis (infection caused by tubercle
bacillus).

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 Restrictive Pulmonary Disorders
• In restrictive pulmonary disorders, vital
capacity is reduced because the lungs have
lost their elasticity due to inhaled particles
such as silica, coal dust, or asbestos.
• Fibrous connective tissue builds in the lungs in
pulmonary fibrosis, caused by exposure to
inhaled particles, including those of fiberglass.

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 Obstructive Pulmonary Disorders

• In obstructive pulmonary disorders, air does not flow freely in

the airways, and inhalation and exhalation are difficult.
• Chronic bronchitis with inflamed airways, emphysema where
alveolar walls break down, and asthma with constricted
bronchioles obstruct the airways and tend to get progressively
worse or recur.

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Lower respiratory tract disorders

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 Lung Cancer
• Lung cancer follows this sequence of events:
thickening of airway cells, loss of cilia on the
lining, cells with atypical nuclei, tumor
development, and finally metastasis.
• Removal of a lobe or lung, called
pneumonectomy, may remove the cancer.
• Smoking, whether active or passive, is a major
cause of lung cancer.

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Normal lung versus cancerous lung

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