Occupational Lung Disease Tips

Aortic valve stenosis is a heart condition in which the valve to the biggest artery- the one which provides oxygen-rich blood to our body, called aorta, is narrowed. This prevents the valve from opening fully, obstructing the blood flow from your heart into your body.

When the aortic valve doesn t open, your heart needs to work harder to pump blood to your body making the heart muscle weak. If left undiagnosed aortic stenosis is fatal.

Symptoms

These symptoms should sp...more

Pulmonary Function Tests or PFTs are a set of tests that are used to determine, measure or observe the functioning of the lungs. The most common pulmonary function tests used are spirometry, gas diffusion, and lung plethysmography.

Highlights of pulmonary function tests

A spirometry test is used to measure the amount of air inhaled and exhaled. It also measures the amount of time taken to complete a respiration cycle.
Lung plethysmography measures the amount of air in the l...more

Valvar aortic stenosis, commonly called aortic stenosis, is a disorder which occurs when the aortic valve of the heart becomes narrow. The narrowing of the valve prevents its full opening, and hence, blood flow from the heart to the aorta is restricted. When the aortic valve gets obstructed, the heart has to exert much more effort to pump the blood. The heart muscles get weakened as a result. This condition is more common in children.

Diagnosis of Valvar Aortic Stenosis:
Before diag...more

Recent years have witnessed the severity of acute respiratory infections. The main cause is exposure to more of respiratory Infection causing microorganisms. Everyone is at a high risk of exposure. The infections can affect all age groups equally. Therefore, you must know all about acute respiratory infections.

Acute respiratory infections may interfere in normal breathing. The infection often starts as a viral infection in the nose, trachea (windpipe) or in the lungs. In cases of non t...more

The lungs are made of tubes through which air passes in and out for exchange of gases, taking in alveoli. It is disease of alveoli to which finer air conducting tubes are attached. Over a period of time, with age and exposure to various agents, these tubules get obstructed. The amount of air that can pass through these is reduced, leading to reduced oxygen supply to the lungs and thereby the various body organs.

Symptoms: The symptoms of COPD can be easily understood if we realize how C...more

Rising levels of air pollution are always in the news and it is a legitimate cause of concern. It has a severe toxic effect on us, and our environment. Factories are popping up in greater frequency than ever before, trees are being cut down to make room for ever-expanding cities and with every family owning cars, pollution is becoming a crisis that is hard to contend with. According to the World Health Organisation, the chief pollutants are carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and le...more

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease refers to a group of progressive lung diseases that cause increasing breathlessness. Emphysema is one of these diseases. It damages the air sacs in the lungs, making it progressively harder for the body to get the oxygen it needs.

Complications in the heart valve occur when the functioning of the heart valve is impaired. Valves of the heart allow the blood in one direction and prevent the blood from flowing back into the ventricles of the heart.

Heart valve diseases can be classified as follows:

1. Valvular stenosis:
This condition occurs when the valves of the heart do not open completely due to stiffness. As the opening is narrow, the heart has to work hard to pump blood. This condition may lead to...more

Tachycardia is the medical term of a fast heart rate. When a person s heart beats for more than 100 times per minute, he/she is said to be suffering from tachycardia. Atria and Ventricles (both left and right) are the four major parts of the heart. They contract and expand so that blood can be pumped out of the heart and oxygen reaches all the organs of the body. Now, this pumping occurs at a stable pace, owing to electrical impulses that activate the pumping in the first place. When an underlyi...more

During breathing activity, chest wall moves out & in, lungs expand & relax. For the smooth movement of the lungs inside the chest cavity, they are lined by pleura.

Pleura includes two thin linings, the layer lining lungs is called visceral pleura and the one lining chest wall is called parietal pleura. The cavity formed between these two layers is called Pleural cavity. It contains a small amount of lubricant called Pleural fluid which helps smooth sliding of two pleural surfaces. Any c...more