Hey, there.
Are you looking for some information regarding pulmonary fibrosis?
If so, you're at the right place. In this video,
we will answer some of the questions asked by a patient with pulmonary fibrosis.
Here are the questions we will be focusing on.
Isn't pulmonary fibrosis the same as
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis? How can I be short of breath when my oxygen
saturation is 93% or greater? Why do I cough? Do I need a surgical lung biopsy?
If I've already had a resolution computer tomography scan.
Let's start off by looking at the first question.
Isn't pulmonary fibrosis the same as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis?
Pulmonary fibrosis is a general term
referring to a disease involving the scarring of the lungs.
This scarring of the tissue causes it
to become thick and interfere with a person's breathing.
In the picture, the scarring is highlighted by the white arrows.
There are many different types of pulmonary fibrosis.
The main difference between pulmonary
fibrosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is that idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is
a subset of pulmonary fibrosis where the cause of the disease is unknown.
Another example of pulmonary fibrosis is airway centered interstitial fibrosis.
This type is characterized as having fibrosis around the bronchioles.
Bronchioles are small airway passages in the lungs.
We will now look at the second question.
How can I be short of breath when my oxygen saturation is 93% or greater?
Just before we answer this question, let's talk about what oxygen saturation means.
As you may already know, one of the main components of blood is red blood cells.
These cells contain a carrier protein for oxygen, which is known as hemoglobin.
When you take a breath,
oxygen enters your body and attaches onto the carrier protein.
Hemoglobin oxygen saturation level refers
to the percentage of hemoglobin in the red blood cells, which is carrying oxygen.
Normal oxygen saturation level is between 95 and 99%.
As you can see, oxygen saturation level
has to be very high in order to meet the body's demands for oxygen.
Therefore, even 93% of saturation
indicates to your body that you do not have enough oxygen.
This decreased oxygen level is detected
by many receptors in the body, which then send a signal to the brain.
This causes the shortness of breath.
We will now go into question three, which is Why do I cough?
The mechanism behind why patients
with pulmonary fibrosis cough is not yet fully understood.
We will go over a couple of hypotheses as to why the cough occurs.
Some researchers believe that the disease
causes a change in nerves, causing an increase in sensitivity.
This results in costs to smaller stimulus compared to healthy patients.
Another researcher has shown
that a specific mutation has been linked to the cough.
This mutation is passed down genetically from the parents and has been associated
with an increase in coughing of patients with pulmonary fibrosis.
You may be wondering if you should try to suppress your cough.
We did as well, so we decided to look
further into this topic, we found that cough supression therapy has
been shown to reduce hypersensitivity and cough frequency.
This therapy includes a number
of techniques including breathing exercises and hydration.
However, this study focused on chronic
cough but did recommend further research of its effectiveness for pulmonary fibrosis.
Finally, we will look into the diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis.
High resolution computer tomography is
an X ray that can show the scarring of the lungs.
So if you had this test done, then why would a doctor still want a lung biopsy?
A lung biopsy is when the doctor takes the lung tissue samples to test.
This is done after a high resolution to peer tomography scan.
If the scan does not clearly demonstrate whether the patient has the disease,
so the biopsy can be used to confirm the diagnosis.
Also, a lung biopsy can show the extent of the disease.
I hope we answered some of your questions about pulmonary fibrosis.
Thank you for watching.