Disorders Study Guide
Chapter 30: Respiratory Tract Infections, Neoplasms, and Childhood Disorders
Definitions
● Breathing → the movement of gasses between the atmosphere and lungs; requires a
system of open airways and pressure changes resulting from the actions of the respiratory
muscles in changing the volume of the chest cage
● Diaphragm → principle muscle of inspiration; it is assisted by the external intercostal
muscles
● Expiration → largely passive; it is aided by the elastic recoil of the respiratory
muscles that were stretched during inspiration
● Lung compliance → describes the ease in which the lungs can be inflated
○ The elastic and collagen fibers of the lung, the water content, and the surface
tension in the lungs increase lung compliance
○ The volume of air that moves in and out of the air-exchange portion of the
lungs is directly related to the pressure between the lungs and the atmosphere,
and inversely related to the resistance that the air encounters as it moves
through the airways
● Lung volume and capacity → reflects the amount of air that is exchanged during normal
and forced breathing; lung capacities include two or more lung volumes
○ Tidal volume (TV) → amount of air that moves into and out of the lungs
during normal breathing
○ Inspiratory reserve volume (IRV) → maximum amount of air that can be
inspired in excess of the normal tidal volume
○ Expiratory reserve volume (ERV) → maximum amount of air that can exhaled
in excess of the normal tidal volume
○ Residual volume (RV) → amount that remains in the lungs after
forced expiration
○ Vital capacity (VC) → the total amount of air that can be inhaled and
exhaled after a maximum inhalation (VC = TV + IRV + ERV)
○ Volume → the amount of air that is exchanged in one minute
■ Volume is
determined by
the metabolic
needs of the
body
○ Total lung capacity
(TLC) → the
maximum amount of
air the lungs can hold
(VC + RV)
,Areas Involved in Respiratory Tract Infections
● Respiratory system → consists of air passages and the lungs where gas exchange takes
place; air passages are divided into two parts
○ Conducting airways through which air moves as it passes in and out of the lungs
(but do not participate in gas exchange)
○ Respiratory tissue is where gas exchange actually takes place
■ Includes the lungs where gas diffuses across the alveolar
capillary membrane
● Respiration requires:
○ Ventilation (movement of gasses in and out of the lungs)
■ Depends on the conducting airways (nasopharynx, oropharynx, larynx,
tracheal bronchial tree)
○ Perfusion (movement of blood through the lungs)
○ Diffusion (passing of gasses between the lungs and the blood)
● Upper respiratory tract
○ Nose, oropharynx, and larynx
○ Conducting zone → act as conduit
for airflow; they warm, filter, and
humidify the air as it moves through
the structure
■ Lined with mucociliary
blanket → protective layer
with mucus and cilia to
sweep and trap particles
such as bacteria, dust, and
other foreign substances
■ Upward motion that sweeps
back particles into the
oropharynx where it is expectorated or swallowed
● Lower respiratory tract
○ Lower airways and lungs
○ Transitional and respiratory zones
● Upper and lower airways
Common Respiratory Infections
● Common cold → usually a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract
○ Adults can have 3-4/year while school age children can have 6-8/year
○ Rhinovirus is the most common cause
○ Other causes include parainfluenza virus, RSV, human metapneumovirus,
coronavirus, and adenovirus
, ● Influenza
● Pneumonia → 8th leading cause of death in the U.S., especially in the elderly population
and those with compromised immune systems
● Tuberculosis → affects 1/3 of the world’s population
● Fungal infections of the lung
Rhinitis and Sinusitis
● Rhinitis → inflammation of the nasal passages/mucosa
○ Most common conditions are those that obstruct the narrow ostia that drain the
sinuses
○ Rhinosinusitis → viral upper respiratory tract infection or allergic rhinitis
causes mucosal swelling and obstructs the ostia, and impairs the mucociliary
clearing mechanism due to inflammation
○ A viral rhinosinusitis can be difficult to differentiate from the common cold and
allergic rhinitis
■ Signs and symptoms include facial pain, headache, purulent nasal
discharge, diminished sense of smell and fever
■ Facial pain and fever are more commonly associated with rhinosinusitis
rather than the common cold
○ In bacterial rhinosinusitis, the symptoms worsen after 5-7 days or persist beyond
10 days, which warrants intervention
○ Patients who are immunocompromised can present with fever of unknown origin,
rhinorrhea, or facial swelling
● Sinusitis → inflammation of the paranasal sinuses
Classifications of Pneumonias
● According to the source of infection
○ Community-acquired → an infection that begins outside of the hospital or
is diagnosed within 48 hours of admission (as long as they don’t reside in a
long-term care facility for 14 days or more prior to the admission)
○ Hospital-acquired → pneumonia that occurs 48 hours or more after admission
■ An intubated patient or anyone requiring mechanical ventilation is at
higher risk for HAP
■ Often resistant to antibiotics and are more difficult to treat
● According to the immune status of the host
○ Pneumonia in the immunocompromised person
● Acute bacterial pneumonia is classified as lobar or broncho pneumonia based on the
pattern of distribution
○ Lobar pneumonia → refers to a consolidation of a part or all of a lung
○ Broncho pneumonia → a patchy consolidation involving more than one lobe
, ● Typical pneumonia → the result of an infection by bacteria that multiplies extracellular
in the alveoli and cause inflammation and exudate of the fluid in the air-filled sacs of
the alveoli
○ Streptococcal pneumonia is the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia
● Atypical pneumonia → caused by viral and microplasmic infections that involves the
alveolar septum and the interstitium of the lung
○ Produces less symptoms than typical pneumonia
Classification and Spread of Fungi
● Yeasts → are round and grow by budding
● Molds
○ Form tubular structures called hyphae
○ Grow by branching and forming spores
● Dimorphic fungi
○ Grow as yeasts at body temperatures and as molds at room temperature
○ Histoplasmosis → fungal infection that occurs mostly along major rivers and
valleys in the midwest
■ The organism H. capsulatum grows in soil and other areas where there
is bird excrements and bat droppings
○ Latent histoplasmosis → characterized by evidence of healed lesions in the
lungs or hilar lymph nodes
○ Chronic histoplasmosis → can resemble TB; more common in middle-aged
men who smoke and people with chronic lung conditions
■ Symptoms include productive cough, chest pain, fever, night sweats,
and weight loss
○ Disseminated histoplasmosis → follows chronic or primary histoplasmosis;
macrophages can remove the fungi from the bloodstream but are not able to
destroy them
■ Symptoms include high fever, generalized lymphadenopathy,
hepatosplenomegaly, muscle wasting, anemia, leukopenia, ulcerations of
the tongue and mouth, N/V/D, and abdominal pain
■ Meningitis becomes a dominant feature of the disease
● Mechanisms of fungal spread
○ Inhalation of spores; fungal spores convert to the parasitic yeast phase when
exposed to body temperatures in the alveoli when inhaled
Categories or Bronchogenic Carcinomas
● Small cell carcinoma (20-25%)
○ Small round to oval cells, highly malignant