Surgery | Common Surgical Conditions | Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease: Obstructive Airways Disease

Cardiopulmonary Disease: Obstructive Airway Disease
Session Overview
Description
This session will provide a brief overview of obstructive airway disease.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Define obstructive airway disease
• Explain the conditions discussed focusing on asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Outline basic management
• Demonstrate an awareness of the implications for surgery, including the effects of smoking

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should:

• Take a full history and perform an examination of the respiratory system
• Have an appreciation of restrictive lung disease (not covered in this session)

Obstructive airway diseases of the lung are second only to heart disease as a cause of disability and are becoming an increasing cause of mortality.

Fig 1 shows the conditions included in this classification.

Although diverse in pathogenesis, these conditions all result in varying degrees of inflammation and airway collapse or narrowing.