COPD mini bible 2015

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains a common and important cause of morbidity and mortality both in the United States and globally. The increasing trends of COPD prevalence, morbidity, and mortality seen in the later part of last century have not continued in the United States. COPD prevalence, hospitalizations, and deaths have remained stable or are decreasing over the last decade. This is likely a function of the overall decreasing prevalence of tobacco use over the past 50 years, along with improved therapies for COPD...

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is a rare genetic disease that creates multiple unique phenotypes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. While bronchospasm, cough, dyspnea, and sputum production all occur with AATD, the phenotypic differences require a computed tomographic (CT) scan to decipher. The availability of augmentation therapy in the United States since 1989 has generated both controversy and evidence that informs the science of usual chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Because of the predominance of emphysema in AATD, much of the best evidence concerning biomarkers of emphysema progression comes from this population...

Personalized medicine is based on the concept that individuals differ from one another. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is particularly in need of a personalized medicine strategy. However, while the COPD population is characterized by a marked degree of heterogeneity at the etiologic, mechanistic, physiologic, and clinical levels, efforts to cluster COPD patients into meaningful groups that can guide therapy have been limited. Three large observational studies-the Evaluation of COPD Longitudinally to Identify Predictive Surrogate Endpoints (ECLIPSE), the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcomes in COPD Study (SPIROMICS), and COPDGene-are underway and/or being analyzed...

Smoking cessation is the most effective strategy for slowing down the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and reducing mortality in the approximately 50% of patients with diagnosed COPD who continue to smoke. While behavioral interventions (including simple advice) have modest efficacy in improving smoking quit rates, the combination of counseling and pharmacotherapy is more effective than either alone. When combined with even brief counseling, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), bupropion SR, and varenicline have all been shown to be effective in promoting smoking cessation and sustained abstinence in smokers with COPD to a degree comparable to that observed in the general smoking population...

The last 5 years have seen a proliferation of data about the best way to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). New long-acting inhaled β-agonist and antimuscarinic drugs have been developed as a once-daily inhaled corticosteroid. Studies have tested whether these agents are safe and effective alone or in combination. Alternative strategies to treatment including phosphodiesterase-4 inhibition and long-term antibiotic treatment have become reasonable alternatives to more established approaches, at least in terms of preventing COPD exacerbations...

Delivery of medication to sites of action through airways has been used for centuries but has gained momentum in recent decades. Currently available modes of aerosol delivery offer advantages but still there are shortcomings. Delivery of active agents to sites of action is affected by many factors beyond the characteristics of the delivery devices, including the coordination between inhalation and actuation and dependence on the patient's inspiratory flow and breathing pattern. Recent advances in drug delivery focus around changes in the generation of particle size with better penetration to the targeted sites, easier activation of the device with inspiratory flow, ease of use including fewer steps in using the device, and better portability...

Oxygen is necessary for aerobic metabolism. Since the human body cannot produce or store oxygen, a continuous and adequate delivery of oxygen needs to be secured by oxygen uptake from inhaled air via the respiratory system and oxygen delivery to body tissues via the circulation. Severely reduced lung function in advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be a limiting factor for adequate oxygen uptake and patients with this disease may require supplemental oxygen therapy. While the methodology of oxygen delivery in home settings represents a continuously evolving field, oxygen therapy itself has been an integral part of the management of severely hypoxemic patients with COPD for more than 50 years despite the lack of full understanding of its effects and the relative paucity of clinical evidence supporting its use...

Over the past three decades, pulmonary rehabilitation has risen to the stature as a gold standard for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This rise is owing to both the development of science explaining mechanisms underlying its effectiveness and the demonstration of its substantial benefits across multiple outcome areas of importance to patients. Arguably, pulmonary rehabilitation provides the greatest improvements of any therapy in the areas of dyspnea-relief, exercise performance, and functional and health status...

Comorbidities impact a large proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with over 80% of patients with COPD estimated to have at least one comorbid chronic condition. Guidelines for the treatment of COPD are just now incorporating comorbidities to their management recommendations of COPD, and it is becoming increasingly clear that multimorbidity as well as specific comorbidities have strong associations with mortality and clinical outcomes in COPD, including dyspnea, exercise capacity, quality of life, healthcare utilization, and exacerbation risk...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and morbid progressive disease where treatment is focused on improving dyspnea, reducing exacerbations, attenuating comorbidities, and improving quality of life. Surgical therapy can be beneficial to a carefully selected subset of individuals and is the subject of this review. The National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT) has not only demonstrated the efficacy of lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) but has also provided many lessons regarding advanced emphysema...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a widespread disease associated with high morbidity and mortality. The principal aim of therapy is preventing disease progression. Besides rehabilitation and pharmacological treatment, different endoscopic approaches were developed in the past decade extending the therapeutic spectrum. Various endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) techniques are available that differ in the implementation, mechanism of action, complication spectrum, and reversibility. So far, the data on efficacy and safety are variable and still very limited...

Positive pressure noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has become widely accepted in the treatment of both hospitalized and outpatient subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The support has evolved over the past two decades to be part of first-line management in acute exacerbations of COPD and is also instrumental in discontinuing mechanical ventilation in COPD patients with acute respiratory failure. It is also suitable for treatment of COPD with other associated conditions including pneumonia, following lung resectional surgery, with concomitant obstructive sleep apnea and as part of end-of-life care...