COPD

This new volume has been conceived with the objective of demonstrating to the reader that any clinical problem is likely to have several alternative solutions and that rarely do they present as the textbook example. Here, the editors have selected more than twenty cases that present complex and challenging choices for the pulmonary physician. Contributing experts have presented a number of problem scenarios, which might be difficult cases, complications or dilemmas, that would challenge the skills of most practitioners. After reviewing the background to the problem, the authors present possible solutions, beginning with the preferred option, but also offering additional perspectives, taking alternative 'what-if scenarios that might stem from the initial intervention, e.g., complications, or which highlight issues that pertain to other sectors of the patient population (age-related, co-morbidities and so on). A concluding section summarises the key points and draws together the arguments for the different strategies presented.

Table of Contents:
1. Improvement of symptoms in a very severe 62-year-old COPD patient after lung volume reduction surgery. R McKenna; 2. Patients with very frequent exacerbations of COPD: clinical stabilization after the prescription of inhaled corticosteroids. M Cazzola, P Calverley; 3. Reduction of the level of dyspnea in an end-stage COPD patient. D Mahler, G Scano; 4. A COPD patient with bronchospasm episodes after the inhalation of tobacco smoke. KO Fagerstrom; 5. Improvement in exercise capacity after correct calorie uptake in a severe patient with emphysema. AM Schols, A Del Ponte; 6. A 36-year-old patient with stage I - GOLD, misdiagnosed as asthmatic. J Vestbo, I Cerveri; 7. Reduction in the levels of dyspnea, improvement in exercise capacity & clinical stabilization in a 68-year-old patient with COPD. T Troosters, R Casaburi; 8. Clinical approach to a COPD patient with muscular hypotrophy. F De Benedetto, S Marinari, EMF Wouters; 9. Improvement of function and health status in a severe disabled patient with COPD. MR Guell, PW Jones; 10. A 62 never-smoker patient with COPD caused by occupational exposure. D Nowak, J Barnes; 11. Multiple vertebral fracture in a COPD patient on long-term inhaled corticosteroids. TP Van Staa, L Allegra; 12. Managing acute respiratory failure during exacerbation of COPD. A Torres, M Ferrer, S Nava; 13. Difficult weaning in a COPD patient with acute respiratory failure after use of benzodiazepines. C Girault, N Ambrosino; 14. Suspected exacerbation of COPD in a 56-year-old woman with atrial fibrillation. S Ramanuja, M Morgan; 15. Antibiotics allergy in a COPD patient with frequent bacterial exacerbations. S Sethi, F Blasi; 16. Tuberculosis re-exacerbation in an older smoker with COPD. L Casali, P Zellweger; 17. A 58-year-old woman with COPD & acute fever after visiting some relatives in the countryside (farmers' lung). M Iversen, G Moscato; 18. Higher than expected rest hypoxemia in a 67-year-old COPD patient with only mild airway obstruction. E Clini, AM D'Armini, I Sampablo; 19. A 52-year-old woman with mild COPD and important oxygen desaturation during exertion. J Zielinski, T Ringbaek; 20. Hemi-diaphragmatic paralysis after coronary by-pass in a 69-year-old COPD patient. B Schonhofer, S Zanaboni, L Appendini; 21. Body Mass Index as a Prognostic Factor in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. B Celli; General index.