Pulmonary Emphysema: What’s Going On

Pulmonary emphysema and chronic bronchitis, usually defined by the mutual term “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease” (COPD), are clinical conditions characterized by disabling airflow limitation, productive cough, and dyspnoea. Cigarette smoking is the major risk factor associated with the development of these chronic disorders, and has assumed alarming proportions during the past fifty years. A few figures convey the magnitude of the problem: in the USA, COPD was responsible in 1987 for 354,000 hospitalizations and 74,000 deaths.