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Barrel Chest COPD - What is it and What Does it Mean?

COPD is a debilitating respiratory sickness that stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is a chronic respiratory disease that causes inflammation in the lungs and obstructs airflow when breathing. COPD is caused by cigarette smoking and usually develops into emphysema as it progresses.

COPD damages the airways and sacs of the lungs through repeated inflammation and persistent coughing. This permanently changes the makeup of the lungs and airways, making it more difficult to breathe. People with COPD regularly feel like they are short of breath. When COPD gets to this stage, it is typically referred to as emphysema.

Emphysema is a type of COPD that is diagnosed by identifying the overinflation of the lungs due to shortness of breath. Emphysema causes the lungs to continually overfill with air because they feel like they are not getting enough air each time you inhale, causing respiratory distress.

When the lungs become overfilled with air for a lengthy duration, the chest will begin to expand to make room for the enlarged lungs. When the lungs deflate, the chest size remains the same, ultimately leading to a shape known as the barrel chest.

What is Barrel Chest COPD?

Barrel chest COPD physically describes the shape that the chest takes after the lungs become overfilled too many times due to COPD symptoms, including shortness of breath, difficulty inhaling, and irritation in the airways. When the lungs become overfilled regularly, they fail to deflate properly. This causes the ribs and chest to take a barrel-size shape known as barrel chest COPD.

Developing a barrel chest is an adverse effect of COPD. It is caused when COPD has developed into its advanced stage known as emphysema, a similar respiratory illness to COPD but with greater complications. Barrel chest COPD is identified as a round, bulging chest that protrudes and takes the shape of a barrel.

Barrel chest COPD is not a type of COPD rather than a physical description of COPD that has progressively worsened over time, typically appearing in the late stages of the disease, often associated with emphysema.

What Does it Mean to Have Barrel Chest COPD?

Having barrel chest COPD doesn’t mean that you have a different form of COPD. Instead, it means that your COPD has progressed to a stage where you can see the physical impacts that COPD can have on the body. Usually, at this stage, emphysema has been diagnosed, as emphysema is defined as COPD that has caused the air sacs in the lungs to overinflate over time.

The disadvantage to barrel chest COPD, aside from a physical bulging chest, is that it can make the symptoms of COPD appear worse. Because the chest stays expanded, it causes breathing to become less efficient, which results in shortness of breath. Essentially, you have to work twice as hard to fill your lungs when your chest has expanded and taken on a barrel shape.

Barrel chest doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years of overinflating your lungs to develop barrel chest COPD. This is why it is found in the late stages of COPD and commonly present when diagnosing emphysema.

How Does Barrel Chest COPD Affect the Body?

Barrel chest COPD damages the lungs, which causes COPD patients to have difficulty breathing as time goes on. Barrel chest COPD causes damage to the body in a variety of ways.

The primary damage in the body occurs within the lungs themselves. With barrel chest COPD, the lungs are unable to expand as they once did. This causes them to become tight and stiff. The tighter the lungs are, the less easy it is to breathe, which causes you to feel short of breath.

When all of these forces combine, you feel that you have shortness of breath, causing your body to work harder than necessary to catch your breath. This vicious cycle is repeated and progressively gets worse over time. It is common to be diagnosed with emphysema at this time, especially if you have already been diagnosed as having COPD.

To put it simply, the more out-of-breath you feel, the more you will try to catch your breath; and the more you try to catch your breath, the more likely you are to overinflate your lungs, adding to the progression of barrel chest COPD.

A Barrel Chest Signifies Something More Severe

Barrel chest COPD is the external manifestation of what is happening on the inside of the body. If you or someone you know has a barrel chest, it is indicative of an underlying and more severe problem beneath the surface that should be checked out.

It’s extremely likely that by the time a barrel chest has appeared, the patient is anticipated to have emphysema. Emphysema should not go untreated, as it can be uncomfortable and possibly lead to more severe respiratory issues.

A barrel chest itself has no cure or treatment; however, the condition that is causing the barrel chest can typically be treated. It’s important to see a doctor if you suspect you have developed a barrel chest because there is likely a somewhat severe issue that has caused this to occur.