Cold weather means alarm for people with COPD

Cold weather means alarm for people with COPD

Chest Diseases Specialist Prof. Dr. Yalçın Karakoca stated that there are 600 million COPD patients in the world and 6 million in Turkey. Autumn and winter months are leaf fall for COPD patients. The cold weather is an alarm for people with COPD. With the cold weather, a significant portion of COPD patients hospitalized in hospitals and intensive care units with acute exacerbation attacks cannot return to their homes again.

He stated that a large segment of the society, including patients, does not have enough information about COPD, which causes the death of more than 200,000 people annually in the USA alone and creates a burden of health expenditures exceeding 100 billion dollars. He stated that most patients did not know that when they were first diagnosed, their bronchi were clogged like a chimney and they were using drugs in vain. Karakoca. Autumn and winter months are leaf fall for COPD patients. With the cold weather, a significant portion of COPD patients hospitalized in hospitals and intensive care units with acute exacerbation attacks cannot return to their homes. Respiratory failure is the reason why patients go to the intensive care unit, which is due to the obstruction of the bronchi with sputum producing tissues and the development of infection afterwards.

SMOKING IS THE COMMON POINT OF COPD AND LUNG CANCER

Stating that COPD is the most important and most common disease caused by smoking, Prof. Dr. Yalçın Karakoca emphasized that lung cancer, a disease that progresses worse than COPD, is also caused by smoking.

Dr. Karakoca, Lung cancer and COPD is a process triggered by inflammation that starts as a result of long-term inhalation of carcinogenic substances in cigarette smoke. The constriction caused by the proliferation and growth of goblet cells in the bronchi due to chronic inflammation, that is, the coexistence of chronic bronchitis and emphysema caused by the destruction of the air chambers we call alveoli, is called COPD in short.

LUNG CANCER CAN BE PREVENTED BY BRONCHOSCOPIC FOLLOW-UP

Stating that while most of the patients have chronic bronchitis, less of them have emphysema, Prof. Dr. Yalçın Karakoca continued as follows:

While the goblet cells lining the bronchi proliferate and cause narrowing in the lumen, the process of transformation into cancer, which we call ‘metaplasia’, begins in some cell groups. At the end of this process, lung cancer emerges and a difficult period of treatment begins. It is possible to get rid of lung cancer with early diagnosis and treatment for those who are followed closely until this period. Just as it is possible to prevent stomach and colon cancers and cervical cancer in women as a result of periodic screenings in gastroenterology and obstetrics, it may be possible to prevent lung cancer in smokers with periodic bronchoscopic follow-ups without lung cancer.

COPD TAKES MORE LIVES THAN LUNG CANCER

Stating that it is important for everyone who has smoked for more than 30 years to know that they are in the risk group for lung cancer and to be followed up accordingly, Prof. Dr. Yalçın Karakoca said, “It should be known that the same group is also in the risk group in terms of COPD and their treatment should be done. COPD affects a wider population in terms of its incidence and causes death in numbers several times higher than lung cancer.“

THE MOST IMPORTANT CAUSE OF DISABILITY

Pointing out that COPD, which is the third cause of death in the world, is one of the most important causes of disability because it impairs the quality of life, Prof. Dr. Yalçın Karakoca shared the following information:

“COPD disease begins in the 40s and continues after the 60s, with the period when patients have difficulty breathing at the irreversible point. Although it is tried to be controlled with drugs, the treatment does not have much effect other than facilitating sputum removal and trying to dilate the bronchi. The most important thing is to quit smoking early. Both bad diseases are caused by smoking and cause the loss of millions of lives.”

COPD PEOPLE HAVE A HIGHER RISK OF ICU DUE TO COVID

Expressing that the severely reduced respiratory capacity in COPD patients also causes the patients to deteriorate more rapidly in other diseases involving the respiratory system and not to find enough time for treatment, Prof. Dr. Yalçın Karakoca explained the risks that Covid-19 may cause in COPD patients as follows:

“If people with COPD catch a disease such as Covid-19, which causes death by effecting the lungs, with a much lower reserve, they will need intensive care in a shorter time. Expecting for a person with COPD who has lost 90 percent of their lung capacity to recover requires being overly optimistic. However, patients with COPD manage this process better because they are more experienced in isolation and self-protection than other people. Among those caught in Covid, those with COPD are relatively few in number, and this is pleasing. In addition, while more COPD patients need treatment in intensive care units due to acute exacerbations in normal periods, the number of patients who need intensive care treatment is less in this period, probably because the COPD patient group protects themselves more tightly.”

BALLOON THERAPY PROMISES FOR SMOKERS

Reminding that both COPD patients and long-term smokers at risk of lung cancer should be more conscious and cautious in this period, considering the fact that both diseases begin in the bronchial mucosa, which is the inner layer of the bronchi. Prof. Dr. Yalçın Karakoca added that those in the risk group should not be afraid of bronchoscopic examination and that early intervention is life-saving in lung diseases caused by smoking.

Stating that the ‘COPD balloon treatment’, which has been implemented in recent years, is also promising in COPD disease, he conveyed the following information:

“In the balloon method, which is especially recommended for the severe and very severe COPD patient group, the bronchi that are thickened and blocked due to smoking are cleaned like a chimney. The cause of chronic bronchitis in smokers is the goblet cell layer, which thickens and causes bronchial obstruction. This layer clogs the airways over time due to smoking, just like in lung cancer. The ‘Resector Balloon Bronchoplasty’ method removes the goblet cell layer that causes bronchial obstruction in patients with chronic bronchitis, just as it scrapes the tumor that causes bronchial obstruction, ensures that the bronchi are cleaned and expanded and prevents sputum production.