Early symptoms of emphysema

Emphysema refers to a pathological condition caused by decreased airway elasticity and excessive expansion at the end of the trachea. The external manifestations of this disease are symptoms such as cough, difficulty breathing, and chest tightness. The symptoms are generally quite obvious, which is why emphysema can usually be treated promptly. When emphysema becomes severe to a certain degree, patients will also experience more serious symptoms such as shortness of breath and barrel chest.

Once patients with emphysema find symptoms similar to the above, they should go to the hospital in time to avoid missing the best time for treatment, which will lead to serious development of the disease and even a series of complications such as tuberculosis and bronchiectasis. So below we will introduce the early symptoms of emphysema in detail to make your treatment more convenient.

The early symptoms are not obvious, or you may feel shortness of breath when you are tired. As the disease progresses, the shortness of breath gradually worsens, making it difficult to perform the original work. When chronic bronchitis is complicated by obstructive pulmonary emphysema, gradually worsening breathing difficulties occur on the basis of the original symptoms such as cough and sputum. When secondary infection occurs, symptoms of respiratory failure such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, cyanosis, headache, drowsiness, and confusion may appear. When emphysema worsens, a barrel chest appears, respiratory movements weaken, exhalation is prolonged, vocal trills weaken or disappear, percussion becomes hyperresonant, the boundaries of cardiac dullness shrink or disappear, the boundaries of liver dullness descend, heart sounds are distant, breath sounds weaken, and there are moist rales in the lungs. Some patients developed complications: spontaneous pneumothorax; acute lung infection; chronic cor pulmonale.

Mild emphysema often causes no abnormal signs. When emphysema worsens, the anterior-posterior diameter of the thorax increases, the appearance becomes barrel-shaped, the spine becomes kyphotic, the shoulders and clavicle are lifted, the intercostal spaces become full, and the movement of the ribs and clavicle decreases. Vocal fremitus weakens, percussion becomes hyperresonant, the boundary of cardiac dullness shrinks or disappears, and the boundary of liver dullness decreases. Breath sounds and vocal fremitus are weakened, and exhalation is prolonged. Sometimes dry and wet rales can be heard at the lung base, heart sounds are distant, and the pulmonary artery second heart sound is hyperactive. Patients with severe emphysema may have rapid and shallow breathing, with almost no breath sounds, even when at rest. Cyanosis may occur, and when combined with cor pulmonale and right heart failure, signs such as distended neck veins, ascites, hepatomegaly, and pitting edema may appear.

The early symptoms of emphysema are generally not obvious. Only when you are very tired will you have symptoms different from those of ordinary people. Therefore, in daily life, we need to pay more attention to the changes in our bodies. Once the above-mentioned early symptoms or other abnormal manifestations appear, we should make a timely diagnosis and then choose the appropriate method to receive treatment.