Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease @Point of Care™ is an interactive resource to support learning in the field of COPD. Fernando Martinez, MD, MS, a leading COPD authority and an author of the highly respected GOLD guidelines, is Editor-in-Chief. Within each chapter, you will find supportive multimedia hyperlinks that provide access to illustrations, videos, journal articles, glossary terms, online textbooks, and other resources to enhance understanding of relevant issues, plus audience polling questions and expert audio commentary. In Chapter 1, noted epidemiologist and pulmonary physician David M. Mannino, MD, introduces this Edition with an overview of the latest epidemiologic findings on COPD. In Chapter 2, University of Michigan pulmonologist MeiLan Han, MD, an authority on the pathology of COPD and its phenotypic variations, provides an overview of how inflammatory processes lead to pathologic changes in this disease. Chapter 3, Current Concepts in COPD Diagnosis, presented by Dr. Martinez, provides a summary of the latest diagnostic recommendations, tips to assist with the differential diagnosis, and many resources for physicians who want to fine-tune their diagnostic skills and improve the recognition of early lung disease in their practices. Treatment of COPD involves accurate assessment of disease status at baseline and throughout the course of the disease. Common pitfalls include treating asthma and COPD with the same agents, and failure to target treatment toward the patient’s disease severity and clinical characteristics, such as a risk of frequent exacerbations. In Chapter 4, Barry Make, MD, Director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation