Extract Emphysema, along with small airway diseases, is a crucial component of COPD. Although the type of emphysema smokers develop is not usually considered, two emphysema types with distinct morphological and physiological characteristics might be present in COPD: centrilobular emphysema (CLE), in which the center of the acinus-respiratory bronchiole and alveolar duct are destroyed with preservation of alveoli, and panlobular emphysema (PLE), seen with α-1 antitrypsin deficiency, but also in smokers with normal levels of the protein 1. In PLE the whole acinus-respiratory bronchioles and alveoli are destroyed 2.
Turato et al. (Fri,) studied this question.