Panlobular emphysema (PLE), unlike emphysema, can affect the entire secondary pulmonary lobule, a cluster of air sacs, leading to severe damage to the lower sections, or lobes, of the lungs, suggests a new study. Emphysema, the medical term for damage to the air sacs within the lungs, is one of two conditions that come under the umbrella of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the other being chronic bronchitis. A recent review report by medical author Mathieu Rees and reviewed by Dr. Adithya Cattamanchi, an ABMS board certified pulmonologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco, pointed out that unlike some other forms of emphysema, PLE is not conf