Updated February 09, 2015.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), emphysema affects over 2 million Americans, with the majority of them over 50 years old. Emphysema is a slow killer, progressing gradually over a period of many years. The damage done to the lungs with emphysema is permanent and irreversible, but if a person stops smoking early on in the disease, it may be possible to arrest further development and improve one's quality of life.

Emphysema Treatments

Smoking Cessation
The most important thing a person can who has been diagnosed with emphysema is to quit smoking immediately. Every cigarette smoked causes more damage to the lungs. In order to halt the disease's progression, quitting is imperative.

• Your Quit Smoking Toolbox

Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Doctors may recommend regular exercise for people with emphysema, and could suggest exercise rehabilitation therapy.

• Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Oxygen Therapy
Oxygen deficiency is common with emphysema, so additional external oxygen may be administered with a nose tube attached via a long tube to a bottle of oxygen.

• Facts About Oxygen Therapy

Inhaler Therapy
Doctors often prescribe a number of bronchial dilators and anti-inflammatory medications to improve breathing and lung function.

• COPD Inhalers

Alpha-1 antitrypsin Treatments
For the few people who suffer from this deficiency, weekly infusions are available.

Fluids and Mist Inhalers
People with emphysema develop bacterial lung infections more easily than people who don't have emphysema, and these infections can be life threatening.

Maintaining fluids in the body and the occasional use of a mist inhaler help prevent lung secretions from becoming mucous. Mucus in the lungs is an excellent breeding ground for bacterial infections.

Antibiotics
Doctors often prescribe antibiotics to clear up bacterial lung infections, which lungs damaged by emphysema are more prone to.

Bullectomy
In some patients with emphysema, the air sacs have broken down into just a few, very large air sacs, known as bullae. These people may be good candidates for this surgical procedure in which the bullae is removed, allowing surrounding healthier lung tissue to expand and work more efficiently.

• What is a Bullectomy?

Lung Volume Reduction Surgery (LVRS)
The theory behind LVRS surgery is that reducing the lung size will pull open the airways and allow the breathing muscles to return to a more normal and comfortable position, making breathing easier.Prevention is the best weapon against emphysema. If you smoke, quit now. The work it takes to gain your freedom from this killer of a habit is nothing compared to the misery you and your loved ones may be faced with if you don't.

Emphysema Symptoms