Evan's friends have become increasingly concerned about
his health these days. He has always been a very active and outgoing person, but
these days, simple activities like mowing the lawn or taking out the trash tire
Evan out. He dismisses the problem, saying that anyone would expect to slow down a bit at the age of 50. But Evan's friends have noticed
other symptoms that they find troubling. He complains of a tight chest and he
appears to spend a lot of effort breathing, even when he is at rest. Evan has
smoked cigarettes as long as his friends can remember, and despite his inability to do any exercise, he has remained very
thin. Sometimes it looks like Evan is puffing his chest out, and Evan often
jokes, "My lungs must be a nice place to hang out, because sometimes it seems
like the darn air just doesn't want to go out!"
Questions
- What disease do you think Evan most likely suffers from? What evidence supports your choice?
- Evan complains that the air in his lungs " doesn't want to go out." Which muscles in his body are likelyworking much harder than normal to compensate for thisproblem?
- If a doctor were to measure all of Evan's pulmonary volumes and capacities, which volume do youpredict would be much larger than typically found in a healthy individual? Why?