AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Smoking is the main cause of emphysema. Cigarette smoke destroys your lung tissue, and it also irritates your airways. Cigarette smoke causes inflammation and damages your cilia. Irritation and damaged cilia cause swollen airways, mucus production and difficulty clearing your airways.

Detailed explanation-2: -Factors that increase your risk of developing emphysema include: Smoking. Emphysema is most likely to develop in cigarette smokers, but cigar and pipe smokers also are susceptible. The risk for all types of smokers increases with the number of years and amount of tobacco smoked.

Detailed explanation-3: -In emphysema, the walls between many of the air sacs in the lungs are damaged. This causes the air sacs to lose their shape and become floppy. The damage also can destroy the walls of the air sacs, leading to fewer and larger air sacs instead of many tiny ones.

Detailed explanation-4: -Signs and symptoms of emphysema take years to develop, but once they start, they generally include shortness of breath, coughing with mucus, wheezing and chest tightness.