Pulmonary emphysema: current concepts of pathogenesis.

Pulmonary emphysema is a major public health problem and is primarily a disease of smokers. The pathogenesis of emphysema in smokers is likely to be multifactorial and may involve protease-antiprotease imbalance, abnormal host response to injury, the inactivation of antiproteases by oxidants, and direct damage of lung tissue by pulmonary phagocytes. The data regarding current concepts of pathogenesis of emphysema in smokers are reviewed in this article.