What are "alveoli"?

What are "alveoli"?

William Berger (Allergist and Immunologist) gives expert video advice on: What is "asthma"?; Can people die from asthma?; What causes asthma? and more...

In order for the body to function we need to get oxygen into our bloodstream and we need to get rid of the carbon dioxide which is part of the waste products out of our bloodstream. The bronchi lead into small sacs called alveoli and it's at the level of the alveoli that we get the oxygen in from the air that we breathe in, then we get the carbon dioxide out by breathing out. It's important that our alveoli are functioning. Any disease that can affect the bronchi or the alveoli can interfere with that ability for us to get oxygen. Asthma, for example, when it narrows the airways, prevents oxygen from getting into the alveoli. The disease that we're most concerned about are patients who smoke and develop chronic bronchitis and emphysema, we refer to this as COPD, where there's actually destruction of these air sacs and those people are permanently in a situation where they are not getting enough oxygen in and not getting enough carbon dioxide out.