Pulmonary Emphysema: 60-Year-Old Male Patient Case Study

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Smoking is the activity that causes the development of a variety of pulmonary diseases and inability to breathe in properly. Even if a person quits smoking, the outcomes may be observed after till death. In the current paper, the case of CH, a 60-year-old man with emphysema problems because of a 20-year-old smoking experience is considered. A physical assessment is developed by a nurse, who meets the patient for the first time. It is expected to discover certain pathologies like the barrel chest, arterial gases’ problems, and other possible complications like constant heart problems, pressure, or even pneumothorax that can be lethal for some patients.

Emphysema is one of the well-known forms of a chronic lung disease caused by smoking and characterized by weak cough because of usually poor respiratory muscle mechanics and reduced lung recoil (Wilkins, Dexter, & Gold, 2006). The nurse expects CH having the barrel chest as one of the late signs of emphysema associated with weight loss, malaise, and chronic cough (Chohan, 2007). The barrel chest is a rounded bulging chest named this way as it resembles a kind of a barrel. The barrel chest configuration may be observed because of such pathology like the developed impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) that influences the development of ribs’ elongation (McMance & Huether, 2014).

Another important finding may be observed in CH, as the patient with more advanced emphysema, is hypoxemia. It is characterized by a low oxygen level in the blood. As a rule, arterial blood gas testing is required to measure the amount of oxygen. Therefore, it is expected that arterial gases are abnormal (that are extremely low) because of the patient’s constant necessity of oxygen. Abnormal pH levels and carbon dioxide retention are the processes that can be identified and defined as the pathologies for arterial gases. As soon as some of the factors are determined, it is necessary for the patient to pass through several tests and make sure how low the level of his arterial gases. The nurse may recommend this kind of test in case emphysema worsens, and the patient feels some definite changes in his breathing activities. Sometimes, patients are in need of extra oxygen, and the abnormal level of arterial gas is the sign to make the necessary corrections in treatment.

Finally, it is necessary to admit that CH, as well as other patients with emphysema, may be at risk of having other complications because of the pathologic processes of this kind of disease. Each of the above-mentioned points has its own characteristics that should be taken into consideration. For example, though the barrel chest is not a disease, it signalizes about a number of underlying pathological processes like osteoarthritis, chronic asthma or bronchitis, or even some severe forms of COPD that cannot be observed by patients as it usually develops gradually. The complication caused by abnormal arterial gas is usually bleeding or thrombus in the artery.

In general, though smokers with a huge stage want to believe that they can give up smoking and forget about all its consequences and impact on health, they are mistaken. Smoking is one of the most dangerous causes of poor health and even human death because its outcomes are not evident but can be observed with time. A number of pathologies with some of them discussed in the paper are associated with smoking and emphysema as a result of a long-term smoking habit.

References

Chohan, N.D. (2007). Interpreting signs and symptoms. Ambler, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

McMance, K.L. & Huether, S.E. (2014). The biology basis for disease in adult and children. St. Louis, MO.

Wilkins, R.L., Dexter, J.R., & Gold, P.M. (2006). Respiratory disease: A case study approach to patient care. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "Pulmonary Emphysema: 60-Year-Old Male Patient." April 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/pathophysiology-pulmonary-case-study/.

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