Which of the following is NOT a category of restrictive pulmonary disorders?

• A. Extrapulmonary
• B. Intrapulmonary
• C. Obstructive
• D. Neuromuscular

Answer: (C)

Restrictive pulmonary disorders are characterized by a decrease in lung volume, leading to reduced airflow and difficulty in achieving adequate ventilation. These disorders can be generally categorized into several categories, including extrapulmonary, intrapulmonary, and neuromuscular causes.

Extrapulmonary restrictive disorders arise from limitations outside the lungs, such as pleural effusions, obesity, or chest wall deformities, which restrict lung expansion. Intrapulmonary disorders, on the other hand, involve conditions within the lungs themselves that lead to inflammation or scarring, such as pulmonary fibrosis. Neuromuscular causes pertain to conditions like muscular dystrophy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which impair the muscles responsible for breathing, thus affecting lung expansion.

Obstructive disorders, however, are characterized by an increased resistance to airflow due to airway obstruction. Conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchitis fall into this category, where the primary issue is not the restriction of lung volume but rather the inability to maintain normal airflow due to blockage.

Therefore, categorizing obstructive disorders alongside restrictive disorders is inaccurate, as they represent fundamentally different physiological challenges related to lung function.