COPD in the News

American Lung Association Offers Olympic Spectators Tips to Stay Healthy in Beijing

Panic-stricken COPD patients more sensitive to increased inspiratory loads http://www.astrazeneca.com.ph/?itemId=3147993

Study Suggests Genetic Factors in Smoking may Increase Risk of Chronic Bronchitis

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Best Hospitals: Respiratory Disorders (Please note: This is a US listing only)

PROCHYMAL™ (Human Adult Stem Cells) for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

(This is a very limited study; if anyone reading this "latest News" page gets in to this study, we sure would love to know/hear about it. Just e mail Contact@copdcanada.ca )

BioMarck Pharmaceuticals Initiates Phase 2 Clinical Study
Effectiveness and Safety of BIO-11006 Inhalation Solution to Treat the Overproduction of Mucus and Inflammation in COPD (BREATH-1)

This study is currently recruiting participants.
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00648245

Aradigm Initiates Phase 2 Study of Inhaled Liposomal Ciprofloxacin in Bronchiectasis

Respiratory Function Conditioned By Inflammation Markers And Genetic Profile

Nycomed Canada Solidifies Leadership Position in the Canadian Respiratory Market

American Lung Association Report Finds Lung Disease Death Rates Increasing While Cancer, Heart Disease and Stroke Death Rates Are Decreasing

Canadian scientists deliver on promise of stem cell therapy for lung disease

New Hope For COPD Patients In Mucolytic Carbocisteine

Tailoring COPD Treatment To Everyday Impact Of Disease Can Help Patients Lead The Lives They Want

Advair Reduces Exacerbations In COPD Patients With A History Of Exacerbations

Significant Improvements Shown In Concomitant Use Of Perforomist & Tiotropium For COPD

First-in-Class Stem Cell Therapy Now Being Evaluated to Treat
Fourth Leading Cause of Death (COPD) (Osiris Therapeutics)

Pitt Physicians Confirm Autoimmunity as Factor in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Test Predicts COPD Patients' Response to Travel

Trial tests lung cancer screening (of long term smokers with COPD)

Can Ventilation–Feedback Training Augment Exercise Tolerance in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?

http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/177/8/844

Flu Vaccines Can Reduce Respiratory Problems By Up To 3/4

MAP Pharmaceuticals Reports Positive Results From Phase 2a Clinical Trial of Combination Therapy.......

FDA Cautions Against Swallowing Tiotropium and Formoterol Capsules

An international clinical research study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a new procedure called airway bypass.

Medical history of respiratory disease in early life relates to morbidity and mortality in adulthood.

COPD part of a larger syndrome: study

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease linked to other ailments

Rethink prescribed oxygen, researchers say

Exercise capacity predicts COPD exacerbations after pulmonary rehabilitation

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=a8643983-267e-42c0-9372-996edeba9e87&k=72470

From the Wall Street Journal....'Ruling on Drug Pricing Faults Three companies"

From MyFox TV in Kansas City....a video with Dr. Hock on COPD http://www.myfoxkc.com:80/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3457447&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.5.1

New drugs get introduced, sometimes touted as a New Wonder Medicine; but what happens, or how do they discover AFTER the fact some can be down right dangerous?

Brovana - First Long Acting Bronchodialator for Use with a Nebulizer

The latest mortality figures from Stats Canada, overall, and broken down by disease and province.(supplied by Chris W)

New Airway Bypass Treatment for Emphysema (from the Univ. of Penn) Apparently clinical trials are being done in Kansas City

Impact of Donors Aged 60 Years or More on Outcome After Lung Transplantation: Results of an 11-Year Single-Center Experience

Steve D. Nathan, MD

Posted

De Perrot M, Waddell TK, Shargall Y, et al
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2007; 133:525-531

Lung transplantation is the final option for many patients with various forms of advanced lung disease. The generally accepted upper age limit for potential recipients is 65 years of age, although the most recent international consensus guidelines have been more liberal, with a suggested age cutoff of 65-70 years.^[1] But what age limit for donors is acceptable? The commonly accepted upper age limit has previously been regarded as 55 years of age. However, since there is an ongoing donor shortage, all criteria that constitute an "acceptable" donor have been more closely scrutinized. Transplant centers, especially those with more experience and greater volumes, continue to "push the envelope" with extended-criteria donors. The term "marginal" donor is no longer used because it is not regarded as "PC" (patient-considerate).

From the group in Toronto comes this somewhat provocative paper on their experience using older donors, which they define as older than 60 years. Such patients constitute about 15% to 20% of their donors currently. The authors point out that with regard to most other criteria that are scrutinized, these donors were otherwise fairly pristine (no smoking, clear chest x-rays, no purulent secretions on bronchoscopy). They compared outcomes of 60 recipients who received lungs from older donors vs those of 407 recipients who received lungs from younger donors. The age range of the older donors was 60-77 years. The older and younger donor groups appear to have been well matched in most respects, although the recipients of lungs from the older donor group tended to be a little older (49±15 years vs 45±15 years; P = .05) The 30-day mortality was 17% (10/60) in the older donor group compared with 9% (38/407) in the younger donor group (P = .08). The 30-day mortality did appear to differ by underlying disease and was higher in recipients with pulmonary fibrosis (5/17 or 29% vs 13/105 or 12%) and pulmonary hypertension (2/2 or 100% vs 8/44 or 18%). Of note, in the COPD older donor group the mortality rate was lower at 0% (0/15), compared with 8/114 (7%) in the younger donor group (P = .3). There was no difference in the cystic fibrosis group (8% in both groups). The 5- and 10-year survival rates in the older and younger donor groups were 38% vs 57% and 39% vs 16%, respectively. The causes of death after 90 days were mostly sepsis or bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome. The latter was the most common cause of death in the older donor group, while sepsis predominated in the younger donor group.

The bottom line and take-home message from this paper is that older donors can be used successfully. Even though survivals were a little worse, this is in the context of patients who were at high risk for dying without transplantation. In fact, there was likely some inherent bias against the older donor group as I suspect that these patients might have been sicker, and therefore the Toronto team might have been more inclined to accept extended-criteria donors. The group for which one can be especially liberal with regard to donor age appears to be the COPD population and, interestingly, perhaps the cystic fibrosis population too.

Abstract

This is great news for the 1,000 plus folks on oxygen in Nova Scotia; thus allowing many of them to get out and about more.

Extracted from the Mail Star ( in Nova Scotia): The province will be adding portable oxygen tanks to its oxygen program. According to NS’s health minister Chris d’Entremont, “eligible people will be provided with up to 10 portable tanks of oxygen…”

“The province will pay part, or all of the cost of the 10 tanks of portable oxygen each month, depending upon an individual’s need, income and family size”

"The portable service will include an O2 concentrator, a regulator, nasal cannula, O2 tubing and a back up cylinder"

People looking for additional info on the program can call 800-225-7225, weekdays 8:30 - 4:30

Drugs Slow COPD Progression

Low Level Cadmium Exposure Linked To Lung Disease

FDA Approves 2008-2009 Flu Vaccines

Panic-stricken COPD patients more sensitive to increased inspiratory loads http://www.astrazeneca.com.ph/?itemId=3147993

Best Hospitals: Respiratory Disorders (Please note: This is a US listing only)

New Hope For COPD Patients In Mucolytic Carbocisteine

Tailoring COPD Treatment To Everyday Impact Of Disease Can Help Patients Lead The Lives They Want

Advair Reduces Exacerbations In COPD Patients With A History Of Exacerbations

Test Predicts COPD Patients' Response to Travel

Trial tests lung cancer screening (of long term smokers with COPD)

Can Ventilation–Feedback Training Augment Exercise Tolerance in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?

http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/177/8/844

Flu Vaccines Can Reduce Respiratory Problems By Up To 3/4

FDA Cautions Against Swallowing Tiotropium and Formoterol Capsules

COPD part of a larger syndrome: study

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease linked to other ailments

Rethink prescribed oxygen, researchers say

Brovana - First Long Acting Bronchodialator for Use with a Nebulizer

Steroids May Cut COPD Lung Cancer Risk (high doses)

Impact of Donors Aged 60 Years or More on Outcome After Lung Transplantation: Results of an 11-Year Single-Center Experience