Lungs of a healthy patient

COPD is a lung disease. Airways carry air to the lungs. Airways get smaller and smaller like branches of a tree. At the end of each tiny branch there are many small air sacs - like tiny balloons.

In healthy people, each airway is clean and open. Each tiny air sac fills up with air. Then the air quickly goes out

Lungs of a COPD patient

The openings of the airways are smaller: Less air gets in because:

• The walls get thick and swollen
• The airways are squeezed by small muscles around them
• The airways produce mucus that you cough up and that narrows the airways

Physicians cannot cure COPD, but they can help to improve your symptoms and slow the damage to your lungs

GOLD - Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Diseases, www.goldcopd.org