The University of Pittsburgh is one of only five centers nationwide participating. An early symptom of emphysema is shortness of breath with exertion, but, as the disease progresses, patients suffer even at rest with each breath they take. The disease has a profound effect on quality of life. Emphysema is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States and results in the enlargement and destruction of the lungs' peripheral air sacs, called alveoli. It affects some two million people in the United States.
Smoking causes the majority of cases.
Because of emphysema, the lungs are over-expanded at all times and the movement of air from the chest cavity is greatly reduced. Standard treatment of emphysema includes inhaled medication, oxygen therapy and exercise rehabilitation. Lung reduction surgery and lung transplantation are surgical options in more advanced cases. However, some recent exciting but preliminary clinical and animal studies have suggested a potential role for retinoids in the actual reversal of changes that emphysema causes in the lungs. Retinoic acid also is known to have a significant role in lung development in infants, but no study to date has been published on its effects in people with emphysema.