Emphysema is a disease of the lung parenchyma with progressive alveolar tissue
destruction that leads to peripheral airspace enlargement. In this review, we discuss how
mechanical forces can contribute to disease progression at various length scales. Airspace
enlargement requires mechanical failure of alveolar walls. Because the lung tissue is under
a pre-existing tensile stress, called prestress, the failure of a single wall results in a
redistribution of the local prestress. During this process, the prestress increases on …