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Bullous emphysema

Bullous emphysema lung

Your lungs inhale air containing oxygen to rely on the small air sacs (alveoli), and distribute oxygen into the blood. When a variety of reasons cause increased alveolar pressure, alveolar walls will rupture and become confluent together, finally, form the large vesicle-like, air-containing space - bullous emphysema.

Bullous emphysema is one or more thin-walled, air-containing spaces, conflated by ruptured pulmonary alveoli. These air-containing spaces are termed as "bulla" (pl. bullae), which is a thin-walled air sacs in the lung tissue, more than 1cm, and filled with air with a tendency to burst.

Bullous emphysema definition:
① single or multiple large cystic alveolar dilatations of lung tissue. (Dorland's Medical Dictionary)
② single or multiple large cystic alveolar dilations of lung tissue. (Mosby's Medical Dictionary)
③ emphysema in which bullae form in areas of lung tissue so that these areas do not contribute to respiration. (Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary)

Bullous emphysema causes

Bullous emphysema often occurs on the basis of pulmonary emphysema or COPD, less secondary to a long-term chronic inflammation, such as obstructive chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis.

Doctors and medical researchers have identified pulmonary emphysema as the most main cause of bullous emphysema. Smoking, air pollution, and long-term exposure to industrial dust particles can contribute to the development of bullous emphysema.

Bullous emphysema symptoms

A small, single bulla is not enough to cause symptoms, and discovered by chance during an x-ray. Chest tightness and shortness of breath are the two main symptoms of bullous emphysema.

Patients with severe bullous emphysema often experience difficulty breathing, chronic coughing, chest pain, and other symptoms related to a lack of oxygen in the blood, such as cyanosis.

If the bullae of bullous emphysema burst, that will cause sudden, severe symptoms and the part or even entire lung will collapse resulting from pneumothorax. If the gas enter subcutaneous tissue (soft tissues underneath the skin), subcutaneous emphysema occurs.

Bullous emphysema treatment

Bullous emphysema without obvious symptoms usually do not need treatment. This is often for the cases with fewer and smaller, simple bullae.

The elderly in serious condition are not suitable for surgery.

Surgical treatment is an effective way to deal with the large lung bullae, and/or that causing the recurrent pneumothorax or secondary infection. Bullae resection and external drainage of the air of lung bullae are the two main methods.

Bullous emphysema prognosis

After suture or ablation of the bullae from the lung, the potentially danger will be removed, and the symptoms of severe bullous emphysema can be relieved.

The following measures include prevention and control of the infection and pneumonia, active treatment of emphysema, exercise of the respiratory function and quitting smoking. Otherwise, new bullae are going to happen.