7/30/2019 What Causes Water in the Lungs

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What Causes Water in the Lungs?

The lungs are the organ responsible for bringing oxygen into the body. While the membranesthat line the lungs and chest cavity need fluid to lubricate them, the air sacs of the lungs need tostay dry.

When the air sacs get filled with water, the body can no longer absorb oxygen from the lungs.

This condition is called pulmonary edema and it can devastate the body if left untreated.

1. What Is Pulmonary Edema?o According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pulmonary edema (water in the lungs) is

caused by fluid building up in the air sacs of the lungs.

In order for the lungs to work properly, the air sacs must remain dry, so when fluid begins toenter the air sacs, the lungs must work harder to transport oxygen to the body. If it is leftunchecked, this condition can lead to respiratory failure.

2. What Causes Pulmonary Edema/Water in the Lungs?o Pulmonary edema most typically happens because the heart or circulatory system is not

functioning properly. There are four different ways to get pulmonary edema, but the mostcommon is cardiogenic, which is an internal condition.

Cardiogenic pulmonary edema, or congestive heart failure, according to the Mayo Clinic, occurswhen the left ventricle of the heart is diseased or overworked. As a result, it stops pumping outenough oxygenated blood from your lungs, which increases pressure first on the left atrium ofthe heart, and then the pulmonary veins and capillaries. This forces fluid into the air sacs, andfills the lungs up with water.

The left ventricle can become weak or diseased due to a number of medical conditions, includingcoronary artery disease (hardened arteries), cardiomyopathy (when the left ventricle of the heart

is damaged), heart valve problems and hypertension (high blood pressure).

3. What Else Causes Pulmonary Edema?o Apart from the cardiogenic conditions, there are outside forces that can contribute to water in

the lungs. These outside forces are non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, alveolar and finally,unknown/multiple factors.

Non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema can be caused by obstructions in the upper airway, seizures,overload of intravenous fluids, or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Alveolar conditions include aspiration (drowning), inhaling toxic gases, severe infections andpossibly multiple blood transfusions.

Finally, the unknown or multiple causes are typically when things like severe head trauma, caraccidents, hemorrhage or some other outside force causes the pulmonary edema. Some peoplemay experience pulmonary edema due to sudden increases in altitude as well.

4. Symptomso The initial symptom of water in the lungs is a shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. The

NIH also lists a feeling of "air hunger" or "drowning" as a symptom, as well as excessivesweating, coughing up fluids, pale skin, restlessness, shortness of breath, wheezing and gruntingor gurgling sounds when breathing. If you are coughing excessive amounts of phlegm, fluids oreven the slightest amount of blood or bloody froth, seek medical care immediately.

Treatment

o Pulmonary edema, no matter what the cause, is generally treated the same way. The first priorityis to get enough oxygen into the body, so the immediate therapy is oxygenation. After that, thesecond priority is to flush out the water from the lungs and improve cardiac function. If aninfection is causing the problem, then it is treated with antibiotics; however, if the problem iscirculatory then the typical therapy treatments include water pills (diuretics to flush excess waterfrom the body) and intravenous nitrates.