Easter Greetings from Respiratory Decade

Dear Respiratory Decade friends,

We want to wish Happy Easter to you and your families!

We are grateful for your outstanding contribution to Respiratory Decade in the world and your continuing support of Respiratory Decade campaign!

Happy Birthday to CPAP!!!

Almost exactly 33 years after the publication of his pioneering paper on positive airway pressure for sleep apnoea (PAP) in The Lancet, Colin Sullivan continues to extend the boundaries of sleep medicine. In those three decades, PAP has gone from an obscure treatment available to few to an effective, portable treatment that has improved the sleep, and thus lifestyles, of millions worldwide.

Sullivan and his team undertook experiments with dogs on airway obstruction, and created a mask for use on human patients. Air pressure was controlled with a circuit that raised pressure until passive obstruction of the airway was cleared. His first test patient was a 43-year-old construction worker who did not want a tracheostomy—back then the only treatment. At very low pressures, PAP cleared the man's airway and allowed him to sink into a deeper sleep, as well as being sleep-free the next day. An elated Sullivan tried the technique on four other patients, and these findings formed the basis for his 1981 Lancet paper: Reversal of obstructive sleep apnoea by continuous positive airway pressure applied through the nares.

“When we were writing the paper,” says Dr. Sullivan, “we had no idea how many people had sleep apnea”.

Abstract from this great article: Five patients with severe obstructive sleep apnoea were treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) applied via a comfortable nose mask through the nares. Low levels of pressure (range 4·5-10 cm H2O) completely prevented upper airway occlusion during sleep in each patient and allowed an entire night of uninterrupted sleep. Continuous positive airway pressure applied in this manner provides a pneumatic splint for the nasopharyngeal airway and is a safe, simple treatment for the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

First EU summit on Chronic Diseases (3-4 April 2014)

Chronic diseases affect the sufferer over a long period of time and generally progress slowly. Some of them – cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, mental illness – represent leading causes of mortality.

Tackling four major risk behaviours – smoking, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle – can help prevent many chronic diseases. But to be effective, such efforts need to be based on targeted health promotion, prevention and early detection.

To efficiently address the challenge of chronic diseases, an integrated, horizontal approach is essential – involving all the relevant levels, from communities to policy makers.

Social and environmental determinants also play an important role in the development of chronic diseases, and there is a clear inequality in the burden of such conditions and in the access to prevention and control.

This first EU summit on chronic diseases will discuss medical, social and economic benefits of sustainable investments in health, ways to reduce the burden of chronic diseases, and how to strengthen the prevention and management of chronic diseases, with a focus on EU added value and action.

The first EU summit on chronic diseases brings together key policymakers, stakeholders and interest groups to explore ways to address chronic diseases effectively in the EU and to develop recommendations along the following questions:

1. How does the expanding burden of chronic diseases affect the quality of life of citizens, the competitiveness of economies and the cohesion of societies and what can the EU do about it?
2. How can the pressure of the expanding burden of chronic diseases on health systems be reduced and how can available resources be invested in the most efficient way?
3. Which prevention measures are the most cost-effective in the short and in the long term, and how could they be implemented? How should the EU and its Member States promote their implementation? Which risk factors need to be addresses more efficiently?
4. How do the health and care systems need to change to respond to the ageing challenge and growing phenomena of frailty and multi-morbidity?
5. How to best reach, include and empower the most vulnerable and marginalised people successfully in prevention and care strategies?
6. How could the European Union support Member States’ attempts towards containing the chronic disease burden? Which EU action would provide most added value – in economic, social and political terms?

 

The summit will develop Conference conclusions and a set of policy recommendations for action clarifying on how the medical, social and economic burden of chronic diseases should be tackled in the European Union now and in the years to come

World Tuberculosis Day 2014: Consensus statement on the management of patients with MDR-TB and XDR-TB in Europe

Today, the European Respiratory Journal has released the publication of the TBnet consensus statement on the management of patients with MDR-TB and XDR-TB in Europe. The manuscript can be accessed online and  free of charge.

http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2014/03/21/09031936.00188313

You will find important facts and information on the management of your patients as well as recommendations for therapy monitoring and documentation.

2014 World Tuberculosis Day

For the 2014 World TB (Tuberculosis) Day on 24 March 2014 many individuals, groups and organizations are standing together to spread the message of ZERO STIGMA. As the international leader in the fight against TB, Dr. Mario Raviglione, the director of the Global TB Programme at the WHO shared this ZERO STIGMA message. Take up his call to action and join the cause! 

Healthy Lungs for Life campaign 2014: continuing success of the Year of the Lung 2010

Hundreds of millions of people suffer every day from lung diseases, and they cause almost 20% of all deaths in the world. Increased awareness about lung diseases is vital, because they are killing more and more people every year and account for a socioeconomic burden of €102 billion due to health care costs and lost working days in Europe alone. The ‘Big Five' lung disorders are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB) and asthma. The impact of lung diseases remains as large today as it was at the turn of the century and is likely to remain so for several decades. Each year in the EU, one in eight of all deaths are due to respiratory diseases and lung conditions cause at least 6 million hospital admissions.

In 2010 was started very ambitious initiative YEAR OF THE LUNG. YEAR OF THE LUNG was the most important and the most successful campaign which emphasized the importance of public awareness about respiratory diseases. Speaking at the European Launch, Prof Nikos Siafakas, ERS President 2010, said that the most respiratory diseases are both preventable and treatable, treatment however is very costly, and effective prevention policies in the EU and worldwide are severely lacking”.

The "Healthy Lungs for Life" initiative will be launched in 2014. The concept behind this initiative is to develop a long-term health awareness campaign that will speak not only to those already affected by lung disease, in order to improve their quality of life, but also to those who may be affected in the future. The objective is to focus on prevention and public education, to try and reduce the
burden of lung disease on society, and to use the ERS congress as the driving force behind the campaign.
This year, in 2014, the theme for Healthy Lungs for Life will be Clean Air. The air that we breathe each day has a massive impact on our lungs, the first internal organ it comes in contact with.

 

COPD Istanbul 2014: International update on COPD

I would like to share with you my experience and impressions about the COPD Istanbul 2014, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey at 8-10 March 2014. The main topic of the Congress was COPD. The conference was attended by a wide range of professionals (more than 500 persons) such as industry leaders, university academics and researchers from all the regions including Turkey, Middle East, Asia, North Africa and Europe. It was high level meeting, the speakers were world known leader in COPD and in Respiratory medicine:

Antonio Anzueto, USA Ashraf Alzaabi, UAE Abdel Rahman Anani, Jordan Nasser Behbehani, Kuwait Francesco Blasi, Italy Miron Bogdan, Romania Demosthenes Bouros, Greece Jean Bousquet, France Vito Brusasco, Italy Mario Cazzola, Italy Alexander Chuchalin, Russia Alexandru Corlateanu, Moldovia Mukadder Calikoglu, Turkey Ronald Dahl, Denmark Giuseppe Di Maria, Italy Anh-Tuan Dinh Xuan, France Pinar Ergun, Turkey Leonardo Fabbri, Italy Mina Gaga, Greece Christina Gratziou, Greece Hakan Gunen, Turkey Gazi Gulbas, Turkey Nilgun Gurses, Turkey Nicola Alexander Hanania, USA Ashraf Hatem, Egypt Ismail Hanta, Turkey Loay El Husseini, Jordan Yavor Ivanov, Bulgaria Nadim Kanj, Lebanon Adel Khatab, Egypt Gunseli Kilinc, Turkey Kosta Kostov, Bulgaria Filiz Kosar, Turkey Jan Lotvall, Sweden

Bassam Mahboub, UAE Maria Gabriella Matera, Italy Florin Mihaltan, Romania Marc Miravitlles, Spain Arzu Mirici, Turkey Mostafa Moin, Iran Levent Cem Mutlu, Turkey Denis O'Donnell, Canada Mustafa Ozhan, Turkey Can Ozturk, Turkey Onder Ozturk, Turkey Clive Page, UK Reynold Panettieri, USA Alberto Papi, Italy Mehmet Polatli, Turkey Nikolaos Siafakas, Greece Joan Soriano, Spain Mecit Suerdem, Turkey Sema Umut, Turkey Omar Usmani, UK Esra Uzaslan, Turkey Thys Van der Molen, The Netherlands Mirna Waket, Lebanon Wisia Wedzicha, UK

1^st  Day of the COPD Istanbul 2014  was dedicated to hot topics in COPD:

Phenotyping the heterogeneity of COPD

Inhaled corticosteroids for COPD

Bench to bedside approach in COPD

New GOLD 2014 Staging: COPD Treatment from A to D

Outcomes for COPD

Pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD; highlights

Emerging therapies for COPD

Prof. Mario Cazzola, Italy and Prof. Gunseli Kilinc, Turkey. Opening Ceremony of COPD Istanbul 2014.

2^nd Day of the COPD Istanbul 2014 was dedicated to:

Overlap syndromes in COPD

COPD: markers and inflammation

COPD guidelines: the important thing is not to stop questioning

Exacerbation of COPD: New perspectives

Management of COPD with NIV

this my presentation: 

The assessment of management of stable COPD: an update 2014 by Corlateanu for COPD Istanbul 2014 from Alexandru Corlateanu

3rd Day of the COPD Istanbul 2014 was dedicated to:

Small airways in COPD – no longer silent

COPD: Effects beyond the Lungs

Prof. Nikos Siafakas, Greece. Closing ceremony of COPD Istanbul 2014

Finally we would like to thank COPD Istanbul 2014 Scientific committee and its Chair Prof. Mario Cazzola, Italy and Vice-chairs Prof. Nikos Siafakas, Greece and Prof. Gunseli Kilinc, Turkey for a successful Conference and remarkable annual organization which allowed taking part in different discussions, to acquire useful information and to establish relations with international specialists.