Glossary of Terms
Airway: The tubes in the lungs that pass air to and from the lung tissue.
Anesthesia: A medical procedure that makes the patient unconscious and makes the body insensitive to pain.
Arterial Blood Gas: An arterial blood gas (ABG) test measures the acidity (pH) and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood from an artery.
Asthma: Swelling of the airways in the lung, making breathing difficult.
Atelectasis: Collapse of all or part of the lung.
Balloon Catheter: A narrow, flexible tube with a small balloon at the end.
Bronchi: The large air passages that lead from the trachea (windpipe) to the lungs.
Bronchiectasis: A lung condition in which the airways of the lungs get bigger and often get infected.
Bronchitis: An infection that causes inflammation of lung tissue.
Bronchodilators: Drugs which relax the bronchial muscle, causing the airways to dilate and thus alleviate the symptoms of COPD.
Bronchoscope: A narrow, flexible tube, with a camera on the end that is used to see the lung airways.
Bronchospasm: A tightening of the muscles that line the airways (bronchi) in your lungs. When these muscles tighten, your airways narrow. It causes difficulty in breathing which can be very mild to severe.
CT Scan: An image taken of a body part.
Carbon dioxide: Result of the chemical reaction between oxygen (from the air breathed in) and carbon (from carbohydrates in the food); replaced in the lung by “fresh” oxygen.
Chest tube: A plastic tube that is inserted through the skin and rib cage and into the chest cavity to allow air and fluids leaking from the lung to exit the body.
Chest X-ray: A picture of the chest that shows your heart, lungs, airway, blood vessels, and lymph nodes.
Chronic: Permanent, long-term.
Collateral Ventilation: The ventilation of alveolar structures through passages or channels that bypass the normal airways.
Contraindication: A specific situation in which the valve therapy procedure should not be used because it may be harmful to the patient.
Deployment Catheter: A narrow, flexible tube used to deliver the Spiration® Valve to target airways of the lung.
Dyspnea: Shortness of breath, often described as an intense tightening in the chest, air hunger or a feeling of suffocation.
Emphysema: A lung condition in which the air sacs of the lungs are damaged and enlarged, causing breathlessness.
Emphyema: A condition in which pus gathers in the area between the lungs and the inner surface of the chest wall. This area is known as the pleural space. Pus is a fluid that’s filled with immune cells, dead cells, and bacteria.
Endobronchial Valve Treatment: Also known as Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction (BLVR); is a new, groundbreaking treatment option for severe emphysema patients that involves a one-way lung valve placed in the airway of a disease part of your lungs to redirect air away from the damaged parts toward the healthier parts, allowing you to breathe easier. Patients are sedated (made sleepy) and a physician performs a bronchoscopy (a long tube with a camera is placed through your mouth) to enter the damaged airway to place the valve.
Expiration: When a person breaths out.
Fissure Integrity: Lung fissures are divisions from the surface to the interior of the lung tissue which divides it into lobes. Therefore the completeness of separation between the lobes.
Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1): Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) corresponds to the quantity of air the patient can breathe out within one second after breathing in as deeply as possible.
Forceps: A common tool used in medical procedures to help doctors grab onto tissue and other objects in the body.
Hemoptysis: The coughing up of blood or blood-stained mucus from the bronchi, trachea, or lungs.
Hemothorax: A condition when blood collects between your chest wall and your lungs—in your pleural cavity.
Hypoxemia: A below-normal level of oxygen in the blood. It’s a sign of a problem related to breathing or circulation.
Iatrogenic Injury: Refers to tissue or organ damage that is caused by necessary medical treatment, pharmacotherapy, or the application of medical devices and has nothing to do with the primary disease.
Inhaled Corticosteroids (ICS): A type of steroid medication that is inhaled. Corticosteroids are very good at reducing inflammation (swelling) and mucus production in the airways of the lungs. They also help other quick-relief medicines work better.
Lobe: A clear anatomical division of an organ. The right lung is made up of the right upper lobe, right middle lobe and right middle lobe. The left lung is made up of the left upper lobe and the left lower lobe.
Lung Function Test: These include a variety of tests that check how well the lungs work.
Lung Volume Reduction Surgery (LVRS): A surgical treatment for patients with advanced emphysema whose breathlessness is poorly controlled by medical management. LVRS reduces the lung volume by wedge excisions of diseased tissue.
Migration: The movement from one location to another.
Nitinol: A metal made of nickel and titanium distinguished from other materials by its shape memory and super elastic characteristics.
Oxygen therapy: Administration of air with an increased concentration of oxygen to make breathing easier.
Pleural disease: Any type of disease that affects the pleura. The pleura is the membrane that lines the chest cavity and covers the lungs. The pleural space is the area between the lungs and the chest wall.
Pleural effusion: Is the build-up of excess fluid between the layers of the pleura outside the lungs; sometimes referred to as “water on the lungs”.
Pneumonia: A lung infection with symptoms like a cough, fever, and difficulty breathing.
Pneumothorax: A pneumothorax occurs when air leaks into the space between your lung and chest wall. This air pushes on the outside of your lung and makes it collapse.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation: A program of exercise, education and support to help COPD patients to breathe and function at the highest level possible.
Respiratory failure: Is a syndrome in which the respiratory system fails in one or both of its gas exchange functions: oxygenation and carbon dioxide elimination.
Respiratory compromise: Breathing difficulty — causes less oxygen to be available to the body and negatively affects bodily functions.
Sedation: A medical procedure in which medicine is given to the patient to make him or her comfortable and unaware of pain during surgery. It relaxes the central nervous system and can cause sleepiness.
Thorax pain: Chest pain, which has many possible causes — and some of them are serious. It‘s important to see your doctor about chest pain.
Tissue hyperplasia: An abnormal increase in volume of a tissue or organ (i.e. the lung) caused by the formation and growth of new cells.
Valve: The Spiration® Valve is a small, umbrella-shaped one-way device that is placed inside the airways of the lung that redirects air away from damaged lung tissue.