What causes barrel chest in COPD?

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Multiple Choice

What causes barrel chest in COPD?

Explanation:
Barrel chest comes from air trapping and hyperinflation that occur in COPD. When the lungs lose elastic recoil, air isn’t fully expelled during expiration, so residual air builds up and the lungs stay chronically overinflated. This pushes the chest wall outward, flattens the diaphragm, and widens the chest’s front-to-back diameter, giving it a rounded, barrel-like shape. The other choices don’t explain this persistent increase in chest diameter: pleural effusion and pulmonary edema involve fluid-related changes rather than sustained hyperinflation, and increased chest wall rigidity isn’t the typical driver of a barrel-shaped chest in COPD.

Barrel chest comes from air trapping and hyperinflation that occur in COPD. When the lungs lose elastic recoil, air isn’t fully expelled during expiration, so residual air builds up and the lungs stay chronically overinflated. This pushes the chest wall outward, flattens the diaphragm, and widens the chest’s front-to-back diameter, giving it a rounded, barrel-like shape. The other choices don’t explain this persistent increase in chest diameter: pleural effusion and pulmonary edema involve fluid-related changes rather than sustained hyperinflation, and increased chest wall rigidity isn’t the typical driver of a barrel-shaped chest in COPD.

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