The path to personalised medicine in COPD

Thorax. 2014 Sep;69(9):857-64. doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2014-205507. Epub 2014 Apr 29.

Abstract

Our understanding of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has changed dramatically over the past two decades. We have moved from an airflow limitation-centric view to the realisation that COPD is a complex and heterogeneous disease, which leads inevitably to the need for personalising the assessment and treatment of patients with COPD. This review provides a brief perspective of the extraordinary transition that the COPD field has experienced in the last two decades, and speculates on how it should/can move forward in the near future in order to really achieve the goal of personalising COPD medicine in the clinic.

Keywords: COPD Pharmacology; COPD ÀÜ Mechanisms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Forced Expiratory Volume
  • Humans
  • Inflammation / complications
  • Lung / diagnostic imaging
  • Lung / microbiology
  • Phenotype
  • Precision Medicine*
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / diagnostic imaging
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / physiopathology
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / prevention & control
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / therapy*
  • Radiography
  • Severity of Illness Index