Morphological aspects, classification and epidemiology of emphysema.

Emphysema is an anatomically defined disorder, which leads to chronic airflow obstruction. Airflow obstruction, however, may also result from bronchial disease. Pulmonary function tests, as applicable in population studies, do not differentiate between anatomical emphysema and other causes of airflow obstruction. Standard radiology of the thorax provides a morphological approach, but is only indicative of emphysema in advanced cases. Post mortem studies, in which emphysema was quantitated, show that age, smoking habits, sex and environment factors are important for the prevalence of pulmonary emphysema.