Asthma/Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

TOUCH MEDICAL MEDIA Airway inflammatory diseases are assessed and managed via multiple measurements, including airway caliber, airway responsiveness, and airway inflammation. Exacerbations post diagnosis is also a critical marker in terms of disease status and progression. Currently, diagnosis and monitoring of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is based largely on symptom reporting, pulmonary function tests, and bronchial reactivity. However, besides the inherent problems of subjective symptom reporting, it turns out that symptoms and lung function tests do not necessarily reflect the underlying airway inflammation in patients suffering from these diseases.