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| Emphysema Cure |
Question:
Is there a cure for emphysema?
Answer:
At present there is no cure.
The disease is degenerative and gets worse with age. Emphysema sufferers
will notice a shortness of breath because the lungs' tiny holes can no
longer extract oxygen from the air and reject poisonous carbon dioxide.
More and more of the air sacs collapse and the patient progressively
loses the ability to make the crucial oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange.
The patient also gets related illnesses such as bronchitis and pneumonia.
Fisher said people with emphysema, and particularly those with advanced
emphysema, already have weakened lungs. Young suffered from advanced
emphysema.
Even normal healthy lungs take time to heal, but emphysema lungs won't
heal.
Emphysema causes the heart to work harder to pump blood into the lungs because
there is a loss of tissue. The heart also needs oxygen to work, but
emphysema sufferers produce less oxygen. And the drugs used to treat
emphysema can cause heart problems. Patients who have emphysema often
have heart disease.
The first thing a person diagnosed with emphysema should do
is stop smoking. Although the lungs will never regenerate there
are treatments that can improve quality of life.
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