Is Early Stage Emphysema Reversible?

Emphysema is a chronic condition in which air sacs of the lung are gradually damaged. There is still no cure for this obstructive lung disease. But the prognosis of the disease is pretty good if it is caught early. On the other hand, it’s more difficult to treat when it has caused a significant damage to the lungs. A challenging question, is early stage emphysema reversible?

What actually is emphysema?

It belongs to a group of lung diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Even it is the main type of COPD. Obstructive means the disease usually causes difficulty in exhaling all the air from the lungs.

Emphysema is commonly characterized by the progressive damage to air sac (alveolus, tiny air way at the end of each bronchiole). Alveoli are the plural form of alveolus. These air sacs are where gas exchange, between carbon dioxide that leaves the blood and oxygen that starts entering the blood, occurs.

Causes

Most cases of emphysema are linked to cigarette smoking. Unfortunately, the exact way of how tobacco smoke leads to the disease is not fully known. But most experts agree that it is the top leading cause of the disease.

The role of tobacco smoke as a main risk factor of the disease cannot be overemphasized. Interestingly, there are also many smokers who don’t have emphysema. This suggests that there are also other risk factors of the disease. These include:

1. Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency. For non smokers with emphysema, this deficiency may be to blame. Alpha-1-antitrypsin is an important substance to help protect the lungs from damage. Lack of alpha-1-antitrypsin is usually a genetic condition.
2. Long-term exposure to other airborne irritants such as air pollution and manufacturing fumes may also lead to inflammation and destruction in the airways of the lung. These airborne irritants can act in a similar way to tobacco smoke.
3. Having another lung condition such as bronchial asthma (abnormal airway reactivity) may also increase the risk.
4. In some cases, the disease runs in families. This is probably because the level of sensitivity or respond to airborne irritants may be inherited. In general, close relatives of individuals with this lung disease are at higher risk to develop the same condition. Unfortunately this genetic issue is not fully understood yet.
5. Older age also has an effect. The risk of developing the disease increases with age.
6. And gender. The disease is more often diagnosed in men than women.

Symptoms

In general, emphysema usually develops and progresses slowly. Many times, the early stages of the disease will have few symptoms. Even in some cases, the patients may have the disease for many years without having any symptom.

Depending on the severity of the disease, the damaged alveoli can significantly impair the lungs function and make it more difficult to breath. Shortness of breath is the most common symptom of the disease.

At first, feeling of breathlessness usually flares up on exertion such as during strenuous activity. But as the disease progresses to become advanced, it can strike anytime even while at rest. In the worst scenario, the disease may lead to ‘air hunger’, a condition in which you have a constant-feeling of being unable to get one’s breath.

Other symptoms include:

1. Coughing with phlegm (particularly true if chronic bronchitis is also present).
2. Wheezing similar to asthma.
3. Feeling of tightness in the chest.
4. Decreased exercise capacity.
5. Constant fatigue.
6. Frequent respiratory infections
7. Unexplained weight loss.
8. Difficulty concentrating.
9. The enlargement of alveoli may also cause barrel-like distended chest.

Is early stage emphysema reversible?

The damaged alveoli in emphysema will be permanent. And unluckily there is still no cure! The good news, the disease progresses slowly and some effective treatments are available to prevent it from worsening so thus it will not result in serious complications or death.

At early stage of the disease, the damaged alveoli are still mild – however once the alveoli get damaged, again this can be permanent. Does this mean that the disease is irreversible, even though if caught early?

… Continued …

Unfortunately emphysema is irreversible condition, even though if caught and treated early. There is always a chance for emphysema to get worse and cause permanent damage in the lung.

But at early stage, the disease is much easier to treat and there’s greater chance to significantly slow its progression so thus it will not cause serious complications. Preventing the disease from worsening is the key since the destroyed lung tissue cannot be repaired.

With appropriate treatment plan (including some lifestyle measures, especially avoiding any airborne irritant), early emphysema is often successfully controlled and prevented from worsening – and the patient should be able to have a normal quality of life.

The prognosis and life expectancy depend on the stage of the disease, though this factor is not everything. Generally, people with early emphysema will live longer and have better quality of life than others with advanced stage of the disease. For more information about this prognosis, see this section!

Emphysema treatments

If you don’t have emphysema but have some risk factors of the disease (see in the previous page) and you do concern about your risk of the disease, see your doctor to completely understand any appropriate steps you need to follow to prevent the disease.

Once you’re diagnosed with the disease, you will have it for the rest of your life since currently it is incurable. The goal of the treatment, including for early emphysema, is to relieve the symptoms, control the disease, prevent the complications, and preserve the lung function.

The best thing to do for early emphysema is probably to keep the disease and its symptoms go into remission. Remission means the symptoms go away for a while – but not cured! The good news it may last in years.

But since there is always a chance for the disease to progress and get worse, it’s very important to always control it as well. Even if you have early emphysema, you should make every effort to slow its progression.

The top advice from doctor for treating emphysema is to avoid tobacco smoke, including for secondhand smoke. Quitting smoking does work effectively to treat early emphysema since this is the single most important variable to preserve the lung function. It is also important in people with the later stages of the disease.

Patients with early, mild emphysema who stop smoking usually will have a normal life expectancy. Many of them who adopt healthy habits are often able to have a fairly normal lifestyle for a long time. But for those who continue to smoke, the severity of the disease often increase dramatically – even this may reduce the life span by abut ten years or more.

If the disease is linked to AAT deficiency, replacement therapy may be suggested to restore the balance of AAT. This therapy is effective but very costly and time consuming. It’s usually done with infusions of natural alpha-1-antitrypsin obtained from donors.