Final answer:
COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, includes conditions like emphysema and chronic bronchitis which hinder proper gas exchange in the lungs due to air trapping and breakdown of alveoli. COPD leads to low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels. This differs from RDS, which affects premature infants.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer to the student's question about airway obstruction associated with emphysema and chronic bronchitis is d. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). COPD is the term used to describe both chronic bronchitis and emphysema when they occur as part of the same complex respiratory condition. In COPD, there is a breakdown of alveolar connective tissues, which reduces the number and elasticity of alveoli. This leads to difficulty fully exhaling air from the lungs, causing air trapping. The trapped air obstructs proper gas exchange, resulting in low oxygen levels and high carbon dioxide levels in the blood.
Conditions like emphysema result in increased compliance of the lungs due to damaged alveolar walls, loss of elastic fibers, and diminished lung elastic recoil. This change causes large volumes of air to be trapped after exhalation. Medical advances have provided treatment methods such as the administration of pulmonary surfactant and the application of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to assist with breathing and improve outcomes for those with RDS, which is different from COPD as it primarily affects prematurely born infants.