Lungs, the respiratory organs of the body, contain air sacs called alveoli. The air taken with breathing fills these sacs and is expelled again after the oxygen in its content reaches the blood vessels. Atelectasis is a respiratory disease characterized by the inability of the air sacs to inflate and relax properly due to the obstruction of some or various parts of the lungs. The medical name of this condition, which is called pulmonary shrinkage among the people, is linear atelectasis or linear atelectasis. Many factors can be effective in the development of atelectasis, from smoking to disorders related to tumors and mucus secretion in the bronchi. Atelectasis can be life-threatening when severe or when seen in children and individuals with respiratory diseases, causing severe respiratory distress.
What is Atelectasis?
The inability of air to reach a certain part of the lung due to any physical obstruction in any part of the lungs consisting of the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli. generates the answer. In other words, the lungs cannot be used at full capacity due to the air that cannot reach the alveoli due to the occlusion. In addition to physical occlusions, conditions such as air entrapment between the lung and the chest wall and pressure on the chest for any reason may also cause atelectasis. Serious problems may occur in atelectasis patients, especially during physical activities due to the negative effects of breathing.
What are the Symptoms of Atelectasis?
Atelectasis disease may not cause any symptoms in the early stages. If the area affected by the obstruction is small, there will be no significant reduction in respiratory capacity, and this is usually not perceptible. However, as the severity of the disease increases, the likelihood of developing certain symptoms in patients increases. Some of the complaints that are among the symptoms of atelectasis can be listed as follows:
- Difficulty breathing
- Fast breathing
- Difficulty in breathing deeply v e intermittent breathing
- Wheezing
- Chronic cough
- Pain in the chest
- Rapid heartbeats (tachycardia)
- Purple or bluish discoloration of the skin and lips
What are the Causes of Atelectasis?
There may be more than one answer to the question of what causes atelectasis. Any condition that causes collapse or obstruction in the lung can lead to atelectasis. Causes of lung shrinkage or lung atelectasis include:
- Congestion in the lung due to mucus, a foreign body that has escaped into the lungs through respiration, or a tumor in the airways
- External pressure on the lungs and airways tumors
- Residue of fluid or air between the lung and chest wall (pleural effusion or pneumothorax)
- Pneumonia (pneumonia)
- Surfactant deficiency in newborns
- Injured tissues in the lung (pulmonary fibrosis)
- Surgical operations performed
- Long-term lung infections such as tuberculosis
- Drugs that affect breathing
- Having received oxygen support for a long time
- Long-term bed rest
- Various diseases affecting the muscles and nerves such as spinal cord injury, muscular dystrophy
- Using cigarettes and other tobacco products
- Obesity and old age
What are the Types of Atelectasis?
There are two basic types of atelectasis. The first of these is obstructive atelectasis caused by occlusive factors, and the other is non-obstructive atelectasis caused by non-obstructive factors. The main types of atelectasis are as follows:
- Congenital atelectasis: Bronch and bronchus It is caused by congenital anomalies in the chioles.
- Obstructive atelectasis: It is caused by physical obstructions such as mucus and inflammation-induced deposits, postoperative stenosis, bronchial tumors and foreign body infiltration into the lung.
- Passive atelectasis: Pleural It is caused by air or fluid accumulations in the space.
- Acceleration atelectasis: Atelectasis that occurs as a result of exceeding the sound barrier in airplanes.
- Adhesive atelectasis: Diseases that cause breathing difficulties, pressurized oxygen treatments, being connected to a breathing apparatus and pulmonary embolism.
- Contraction atelectasis: It is called scar or cicatrization atelectasis and is caused by the accumulation of fibrous tissue in the lung.
- Acute atelectasis: Temporarily due to reasons such as lung surgeries or lung injuries.
- Chronic atelectasis: Atelectasis in the middle lobe syndrome caused by tumor pressure in the middle lobe and atelectasis caused by chronic pleural inflammation.
- Atelectasis in the newborn: It is common in newborn babies, especially in premature births. It is a type of atelectasis caused by surfactant deficiency.
- Subsegmental atelectasis: It is also called plate-like atelectasis and it develops partially due to the decrease in air entry and exit to the alveoli.
- Dependent atelectasis: Respiration due to the effect of physical obstructions
How is Atelectasis Treatment?
The most important answer to the question of how atelectasis is treated is to ensure air flow in the lung and eliminate the collapse. . For this, if there is a physical obstruction, in other words, if there is obstructive atelectasis, the necessary interventions should be made to remove the obstruction. property. If the congestion factor is mucus accumulation, it can be eliminated by coughing by applying drug treatments to dilute these secretions. Patients may be referred to respiratory physiotherapists to expel mucus plugs from the respiratory tract. Studies in the field of respiratory physiotherapy are very effective on increasing the lung capacity and relieving air flow to the deep parts of the lung. One of the common causes of linear atelectasis is infections. Therefore, if such an infection is detected in a patient with atelectasis, the infection should be relieved first with the help of appropriate antibiotic treatments. After the infection is treated, atelectasis may disappear by relaxing airflow. However, in some cases, permanent effects may occur and additional treatments may be needed.
Acute atelectasis that occurs as a complication after surgery can be treated with the help of oxygen supplements. If there is a foreign body that has escaped into the respiratory tract, this body can be removed by applying bronchoscopy. In cases such as tumor or fibrous tissue accumulation, treatment usually requires surgical operations. In chronic atelectasis developing after long-term infections, surgical removal of the lung region, which is the focus of the infection, is an effective treatment method both for treatment and for preventing the recurrence of the infection. As can be understood from these approaches, the causes of atelectasis play a key role in determining the treatment process. After the diagnosis of atelectasis in patients, it is very important to fully identify the causes that play a role in the development of this condition. If you are experiencing symptoms of atelectasis and you have not yet been diagnosed, you can consult a pulmonologist and go through the examination and have the necessary scans.
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