Respiratory
A patient presents with hoarseness, inspiratory stridor, and barking cough. Lung sounds are clear. Identify the affected airway location.
Larynx (upper airway)
What is the purpose of the tiny hair-like structures that line the respiratory tract?
Trap and move dust and mucous out of the airways
What immune cells are primarily responsible for containing TB during the latent phase?
T lymphocytes and macrophages
What happens when someone has asthma
Airways become tight, narrow and inflamed making it hard to breathe
Why is asthma reversible but COPD not?
Asthma: reversible bronchoconstriction, IgE/eosinophils
COPD: irreversible airway damage, neutrophils/macrophages
LABAs alone OK in COPD, not alone in asthma
Larynx
What is the main function of the respiratory system?
Exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide through breathing
What causes COPD
long-term smoking or exposure to lung irritants
What can trigger an asthma attack?
Allergens, Exercise, Stress
These tubes branch off from the trachea and carry air into each lung
Bronchi
A patient’s FEV1 improves by 14% after bronchodilator administration. What does this confirm?
Reversible airway obstruction (asthma)
Where does the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide occur?
Alveoli
A patient with long-standing asthma develops fixed airway obstruction and no longer responds to bronchodilators. What pathological process explains this?
Airway remodeling (fibrosis, smooth muscle hypertrophy)
What is cystic fibrosis?
A genetic disorder causing thick mucus to build up in the lungs
This sticky substance lines the airways and traps dust, bacteria, and other particles to help keep the lungs clean.
Mucous
A patient develops hypoxemia due to alveoli being filled with pus and fluid. Which specific gas-exchange problem is occurring?
Impaired diffusion and ventilation
Which part of blood carries oxygen to the cells of the body?
Red blood cells
Common Symptoms of lung cancer
Cough, chest pain, coughing up blood
An intubated patient develops pneumonia after 5 days in ICU. What organism is most concerning?
MRSA or Pseudomonas
Why can oxygen worsen hypercapnia in COPD?
COPD breathes for O₂, not CO₂.
Take away low O₂ → take away the drive to breathe. High oxygen removes the low-oxygen breathing signal in COPD, causing slower breathing and dangerous CO₂ buildup.
A patient has dullness to percussion and decreased breath sounds at lung bases. What is present?
Pleural effusion
A tension pneumothorax becomes fatal because it causes what cardiovascular compromise?
Decreased venous return/cardiac output
phragm
What causes tuberculosis (TB)
A highly contagious bacteria in the lungs
A patient with aspiration pneumonia most likely has involvement of which lung and why?
Right lung due to straighter right main bronchus
Which lung is slightly smaller to accommodate the heart on the left side of the chest.
Left