Posted by The following document takes you to an informative booklet I made to show how emphysema effects the major organ of the respiratory system: the lungs. As the booklet continues, we get a deeper look into how emphysema effects the alveoli air sacs and how this disrupts normal gas exchange between the lungs and the blood vessels. I put all of the images in a single document so that way they were in the correct order like they are in the booklet. The project was intended to fulfill the following objective: analyze the effects of disease on the function and structure of the respiratory system
Rilee’s steam project was focused on depicting the difference between a healthy respiratory system and a respiratory system affected by emphysema. Emphysema is a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that is caused by exposure to noxious gasses, including cigarette smoke and environmental pollutants. These gasses cause the alveoli of the lungs to be severely inflamed, destroying the alveolar walls. This comparison can be seen between the 4th and 5th pages of the booklet. The destroyed alveoli causes oxygen that cannot undergo gas exchange to be trapped and the lungs are hyperinflated. This causes a barrel chest appearance, seen on page 2 of the booklet. In addition, this flattens the diaphragm, seen on the 3rd page of the booklet. The damage done to alveolar sacs is not able to be reversed, so it is important to know the consequences that noxious gasses can have on our lung health.