Patient's question:
Dad has smoked for almost 40 years. Lately, he has been experiencing repeated mild coughing and shortness of breath. The family took him to the hospital for a thorough examination. The doctor said that Dad's lungs have already been fibrosed. What exactly is pulmonary fibrosis?Doctor's answer:
Smoking can cause significant harm to the lungs. Smoking can also lead to pulmonary fibrosis, which is a late-stage change in a broad category of lung diseases characterized by fibroblast cell division, the accumulation of a large amount of extracellular matrix, and accompanying inflammatory damage, tissue structure destruction. This occurs when normal alveolar tissue is destroyed and replaced by abnormal repair, resulting in structural abnormalities (scarring). The incidence and mortality of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis are increasing year by year, with an average life expectancy of only 2.8 years after diagnosis. Its mortality rate is lower than that of most tumors, and it is referred to as a "tumor-like disease."