A member asked:

Do i have emphysema and or chronic bronchitis, or is there no difference?

8 doctors weighed in across 5 answers
Dr. Michael Depietro answered

Specializes in Pulmonary Critical Care

Depends: They tend to overlap, so most patients have a combination of both. Both are smoking related conditions & together are COPD ( chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) the chronic bronchitis = inflammation of the airways, that leads to cough, purulent sputum, and airway narrowing. Emphysema is more damage to the air sacs, less cough, otherwise similar. Pulmonary function tests confirm the diagnosis.

Answered 6/10/2014

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Dr. William Walsh answered

Specializes in Addiction Medicine

Could be both: There is a difference, emphysema is the destruction of lung tissue leading to a swiss cheese appearance of the lung. Chronic bronchitis is the persistence of a cough with productive sputum or three or more episodes a year for two years.

Answered 4/4/2012

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Emphysema bronchitis: Both of these conditions contitute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(copd)but having said that these are two different conditions.Emphysema is a progressive disease cause motly by smoking and long term exposure to pollutants causing loss of structure of lungs causind shortness of breath.Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation in bronchi causing cough and sputum production.Treatment same forboth.

Answered 7/5/2012

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Some difference: Most patients with COPD have both emphysema which is a structural loss of the air units and chronic bronchitis which is inflammation of the airways leading to the air units. In some cases one is almost exclusively present such as pure emphysema. In general, about 70-80% of COPD patients have at least some chronic bronchitis. They are more prone to worsening episodes than pure emphysema.

Answered 10/4/2016

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Dr. Sue Ferranti answered

Specializes in Internal Medicine

Difference...: Both diseases are forms of COPD but they are quite different. Chronic bronchitis has a chronic productive cough whereas emphysema patients tend to not produce as much sputum. See your doctor who will be able to diagnose which one you have, if any. Both diseases are caused usually by smoking.

Answered 6/10/2014

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