• Upper respiratory tract (Nose, pharynx, paranasal sinuses, larynx (some include trachea too)
  • You can subdivide the conditions according to aetiology, eg. inflammatory/infectious, neoplastic etc.
  • The common and important conditions are covered well in your lecture notes and will not be further highlighted here
• Airways (trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, down to respiratory bronchioles)
  • Different conditions affect airways of different sizes, eg. bronchiectasis and chronic bronchitis (larger airways); emphysema and bronchiolitis (smaller airways) etc.
  • Conditions vary according to aetiology, eg. inflammatory, neoplastic, infectious etc. and abnormalities can lead to obstruction of air flow
• Lung parenchyma
  • Alveoli, capillaries, interstitium
  • In terms of function, the above form the gas exchange surface which is very important for the main function of the lung – absorbing oxygen and secreting carbon dioxide
  • Specific components of alveolar septa (let’s follow the direction of blood to air)
    • Capillary endothelium
    • Basement membranes
      • Of capillary and alveolar wall
      • Interstitial tissue (if present) – collagen, elastic, fibroblasts, smooth muscle, few chronic inflammatory cells
    • Alveolar epithelium (pulmonary surfactant lies on top of this)
    • Alveolar macrophages (within alveolar spaces
• Pleura
  • Diseases of the pleura can affect lung function as well, eg. pleural fibrosis decreasing lung expansion
  • Some notable conditions: Pleural fibrosis, calcifications and plaques (eg. TB, pneumoconiosis); infections (eg. empyema); malignancy (mesothelioma – related to asbestos exposure)
• Blood vessels
  • Large to small; arteries (eg. pulmonary embolism) ; veins (eg. chronic venous congestion )
  • Conditions can be haemodynamic (eg. pulmonary embolism, pulmonary hypertension) or inflammatory (eg. vasculitis)

• VITAMIN C (eg. Vascular, Infectious, Toxic, etc.) – this is covered in the mindmaps at the bottom of this page.

Note that the mindmap is not comprehensive, and you can slot in other conditions as you read about them eg. chronic venous congestion • This is one of the most complete ways of categorizing lung disease, and you can take note of the anatomical component and functional aspects along the way. • alveolar spaces together with alveolar walls and capillaries (gas exchange surface) are very important for the primary function of the lung – which is absorbing oxygen and secreting carbon dioxide.

• This applies mostly to Chronic lung diseases of a non-infectious and non-neoplastic nature
• Lung disease can be classified into two main functional abnormalities:
  • Obstructive
  • Restrictive
• With a living patient, lung function tests are used to determine the pattern. Eg. total lung capacity and expiratory flow rate (measured by forced expiratory volume at 1 second).
• These two main patterns are caused by different conditions, with some overlaps.

Mindmaps:

Obstructive vs Restrictive  Part 1 and Part 2