Emphysema: Alveolar Damage & Gas Exchange — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2025Emphysema is a chronic disorder in which alveolar walls are damaged due to which respiratory surface is decreased. One of the major causes of this is cigarette smoking.
NTA tests whether you understand that emphysema damages alveolar walls, reducing the respiratory surface area available for gas exchange. Students often confuse emphysema with other lung diseases or forget that the KEY PROBLEM is decreased surface area, not blocked airways. Remember: damaged alveoli = fewer alveoli = less area for O₂ and CO₂ exchange = poor gas exchange. Cigarette smoking is the major cause because it destroys elastin and collagen in alveolar tissue. For NEET, focus on the mechanism: structural damage → functional impairment in breathing and gas exchange.
This paragraph was tested 3 times in NEET.
Match List-I with List-II.List-I A. Emphysema B. Angina Pectoris C. Glomerulonephritis D. Tetany List-II I. Rapid spasms in muscle due to low Ca²⁺ in body fluid II. Damaged alveolar walls and decreased respiratory surface III. Acute chest pain when not enough oxygen reaches the heart muscle IV. Inflammation of glomeruli of kidney Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Name the chronic respiratory disorder caused mainly by cigarette smoking. [NEET Phase I – 2016]
Name the pulmonary disease in which alveolar surface area involved in gas exchange is drastically reduced due to damage in the alveolar walls. [AIPMT 2015]
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.