A 50-year-old white female presents to the emergency room with complaints of increased chest congestion with purulent sputum production for the last 3 days. The patient reports she has had some increased dyspnea and is using her albuterol inhaler which isn’t helping her symptoms. The patient reports a history of tobacco use for last 10 years and a history of COPD which was diagnosed last year. The patient reports that her primary care provider ordered another medication for the COPD but she couldn’t afford it. The patient denies fever. The patient’s vital signs: BP 148/90, pulse 108, respirations 22, O2 sat 92%, and temp 98.1F. Chest x-ray reveals hyperinflation with flattened diaphragm but is without effusions or infiltrates.

COPD Case Study Student’s Name Professor’s Name Institutional Affiliations Course Name and Number Due Date COPD Case Study The clinical presentations by the patient illustrate the worsening of their Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) due to poor treatment and maintenance. Rodrigues et al. (2021) reveal that chronic airway obstructions, characterized by chest congestion, dyspnea, and even purulent sputum, similar to the symptoms outlined by the patient, represent the hallmark of COPD. Such presentations become aggravated with increased exposure to environmental risk factors that comprise aerosols and cigarette smoke. Andrй et al. (2019) also reveal that COPD triggers diverse cardiovascular-related symptoms due to the close interactions of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, causing elevated blood pressure and pulse rates highlighted by the objective data for the patient. Thus, this paper explores the dynamic interactions of the unique pulmonary pathophysiologic processes and other causative factors that interact to trigger the presented symptoms. Exposure to harmful gases and other pollutants from cigarette smoking triggers chronic inflammation commonplace in COPD. Andrй et al. (2019) confirm that such aspects also diminish immunity, leading to varied infections related to bronchial wall damage. The authors indicate that emphysema and chronic bronchitis that compromises the lungs’ small airways also arise, coupled with alveolar wall destruction. This outcome causes complex complications that result in airflow limitation, diminished gas exchange, and declining expiratory flow due to lost elasticity of the vessels (Rodrigues et al., 2021). Such processes lead to breathlessness and increased dyspnea in patients. According to Rodrigues et al. (2021), chronic bronchitis also affects the goblet cells, leading to mucus hypersecretion, which causes chest...