Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Introduction: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also called chronic obstructive lung disease, is a term that is used for two closely related diseases of the respiratory system ... more about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Severe obstruction of bronchial air flow typically from bronchitis and/or emphysema. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is available below.

Symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Early symptoms - not many symptoms for sometimes 10 years after smoking started
  • Daily morning cough
  • Mild shortness of breath
  • Occasional coughing
  • Severe cough from respiratory infection - such as the common cold

See full list of 26 symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:

• Smoking-Related Disorders: Home Testing:
  • Nicotine Home Tests
  • Home Lung Function Tests
• Cold & Flu: Home Testing:
  • Home Fever Tests
  • Home Ear Infection Tests
  • Home Flu Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Lung function tests
  • Spirometer (lung function test)
  • Forced vital capacity (FVC) lung test
  • Residual volume (RV) lung test
  • Total lung capacity (TLC) lung test

See full list of 8 diagnostic tests for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Wrongly Diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?

• Misdiagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Failure to diagnose Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Underlying causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Failure to diagnose Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Misdiagnosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

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Whooping cough often undiagnosed: Although most children in the Western world have been immunized against whooping cough (also called "pertussis"), this protection wears off after about 15 years. Thus, any teen or adult with a...read more »

Alzheimer's disease over-diagnosed: The well-known disease of Alzheimer's disease is often over-diagnosed. Patients tend to assume that any memory loss or forgetulness symptom might be Alzheimer's, whereas...read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various...read more »

Tremor need not be Parkinson's disease: There is the tendency to believe that any tremor symptom, or shakiness, means Parkinson's disease. The reality is that there are various possibilities, such as benign essential...read more »

Rare diseases misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease: A rare genetic disorder is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease for men in their 50's. The disease Fragile X disorder...read more »

Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases are difficult to diagnose. Even the well-knowns conditions such as asthma...read more »

Misdiagnosed weight-related causes of infertility: A woman's weight status can affect her level of fertility. Although obesity or overweight can in themselves reduce fertility, there are other weight-related or associated medical...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Cigarette smoking

Read more about causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

More information about causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:

• Underlying causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease as a complication caused by other conditions
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Treatments for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Quit smoking
• Home oxygen therapy
• Bronchodilators
  • Sympathomimetics - inhaled, injected, or taken orally.
    • Isoproterenol

See full list of 65 treatments for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Videos for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Patient Surveys for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Prognosis for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Variable. Good prognosis depends on early diagnosis (i.e. on extent of lung damage).

More about prognosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Reseach about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Visit our research pages for current research about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease treatments.

Clinical Trials for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease include:

• Evaluation of Spirometry Expert Support in General Practice - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• The Additional Value of Noninvasive Ventilation Next to Rehabilitation in Patients With Hypercapnic Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• COPD on Primary Care Treatment (COOPT) - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - N-acetylcysteine,fluticasone propionate
• A Blinded Study Comparing the Safety and Efficacy of a Fully Human Anti-IL8 Monoclonal Antibody (ABX-IL8) to Placebo in Patients With Chronic Bronchitis and COPD - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - ABX-IL8
• Comparison of Two Treatment Regimens to Reduce PA Infection in Children With Cystic Fibrosis - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Tobramycin,Ciprofloxacin

See full list of 292 Clinical Trials for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Prevention information for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

• Quit smoking

Read more about prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Statistics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Medical statistics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Death and Mortality statistics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Society statistics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Types of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Chronic bronchitis
• Pulmonary emphysema

Read more about Types of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Medical Guidebooks and Ebooks for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Icon Health Sourcebook for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

See all guides and ebooks for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Stories from Users Related to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

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• COAD vs COPD

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
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Article Excerpts about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also called chronic obstructive lung disease, is a term that is used for two closely related diseases of the respiratory system: chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In many patients these diseases occur together, although there may be more symptoms of one than the other. Most patients with these diseases have a long history of heavy cigarette smoking. (Source: excerpt from What is COPD: NHLBI)

Definitions of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:

Chronic, irreversible obstruction of air flow from the lungs. - (Source - Diseases Database)

A nonreversible lung disease that is a combination of emphysema and chronic bronchitis; usually patients have been heavy cigarette smokers - (Source - WordNet 2.1)