HRCT-defined emphysema is not COPD to be treated with inhalers

HRCT-defined emphysema is not COPD to be treated with inhalers.

The COPDGene Study is providing important new information about the natural history of several chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) phenotypes. This multicentre study enrolled a large number of current and former smokers with a wide range of spirometry results (from normal to very severe airflow obstruction), carefully characterised them during their baseline examination, and has been f...

“Not Everything That Is Faced Can Be Changed, but Nothing Can Be Changed Until It Is Faced”: A Response to Recent Commentaries

Conventional chest films can reveal emphysema, but not COPD.

Hunninghake CW. Interstitial lung diseases: current concepts of pathogenesis, staging, and therapy. Am J Med 1981; 70:542-68 3 Crystal RG, Bitterman PB, Rennard SI, Hance AJ, Keogh B. Interstitial lung disease of unknown cause: disorders characterized by inflammation of the lower respiratory tract. N Engl J Med. 1984; 310:154-166, 235, 244 4 Libby DM, Cibofsky A, Fotino M, Waters SJ, Smith JR I...

Diarrhoea is not the only symptom that needs to be treated in patients with microscopic colitis.

BACKGROUND Many patients with microscopic colitis (MC) also suffer from symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but the only treatment given is corticosteroids for the diarrhoea. The aim of this study was to examine how social factors, life style factors and drug treatment affect symptoms and well-being in patients suffering from MC. METHODS Women, over the age of 73years, with biopsy-ver...

Current Overview of COPD with Special Reference to Emphysema

Pulmonary emphysema is a chronic disease defined pathologically as an abnormal permanent destruction and enlargement of air spaces distal to the terminal bronchioles, accompanied by the destruction of alveolar walls without predominant fibrosis. Emphysema frequently occurs in overlapping association with chronic bronchitis which is clinically defined as chronic productive cough for three months...