Master the 2026 EEI Airway Challenge – Ace Your Emergency Intubation Skills!

COPD is a chronic lung disease characterized by destruction of the alveolar walls, especially in emphysema, which reduces the surface area for gas exchange. When these walls break down, the alveolar-capillary surface area shrinks, diffusion capacity falls, and oxygen uptake plus carbon dioxide removal become impaired, leading to reduced gas exchange and chronic airflow limitation. This pattern of alveolar destruction and impaired diffusion is not how the other conditions primarily cause their lung problems: pulmonary edema from heart failure, acute viral bronchiolitis from RSV, or infectious granulomatous changes from TB don’t feature the targeted alveolar-wall destruction that defines COPD.