Did you know there are more than 65 million people around the world suffering from moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)? COPD isn’t just one disease or symptom, COPD is a overarching diagnosis that is used to describe a host of symptoms that severely damage the lungs and quality of life. Curiously, the lung-destroying disease is not known or understood by most of the populace, even when it’s a leading cuase of death worldwide with 3 million deaths reported in 2015. Though, in 2019, scientists have recently developed a new understanding of the complex disease that may soon yield a cure or ability to repair the damage done to the lungs of those unlucky enough to develop the disease.
Related Topics (Ads):
- 1.COPD Inhalers
- 2.COPD Treatment
- 3.What Does COPD Stand For
- 4.COPD Meds
Having a good understanding of COPD is the first step to treating or managing the illness. Permanent lung damage caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) starts much earlier than previously thought, even before patients show symptoms.
A diagnosis of COPD means that the patient has multiple severe conditions that are life threatening, if they aren’t taken care of promptly. This diagnosis may not be so dire soon, as a breakthrough discovery led by Dr. Tillie-Louise Hackett, associate professor in the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine found that even patients diagnosed with mild COPD have already lost a significant portion of their small airways—more than 40 percent—on average.
COPD is a chronic, progressive condition that slowly damages the tissues of the lungs. Currently, patients with a mild condition, as determined by a lung function test, are given minimal or no treatment. These new findings will serve to change that. “These patients often have little to no symptoms, so it was believed their lungs were relatively undamaged,” said Hackett. “Now that we know the severity of the damage, we need to look at earlier intervention to ensure the best outcomes for COPD patients.”
The new findings also suggest previous large clinical trials testing new COPD treatments may have failed because patients already had substantial lung damage.
It may help to think of the disease in this way: its marked by damage to the bronchial tube. Irritation and swelling in the bronchial area of the lungs marks a typical case of this damage. Deeper into the lungs, there are tiny hairs called cilia which take mucus up the tube so it can be coughed out. A loss of this hair causes chronic bronchitis, which removes their ability to cough out mucus, making their cough and condition worse.
This buildup in the lungs causes them to stretch and become flabby. The enlargement in the lungs and the lung’s tubules make it harder to expel air from the lungs. This is called Emphysema. Emphysema is the second most common symptom that is indicative of COPD. Patients with this ailment find it grueling to breathe out. The larger air sacs from the damage often result in less supply of oxygen to the blood, which is equally dangerous.
A majority of COPD patients show symptoms of chronic bronchitis and emphysema at the same time. Clearly, the quality of life for patients with COPD declines rapidly as damage is wrought on the body.
COPD worsens with time
The simple truth is that there is no cure for COPD at the moment. The disease is progressive, and worsens with time. The only way to reduce its impact on the body is a intensive combination of treatments. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle has been shown to dramatically improve the lives of COPD patients. Typically, aspects of a healthy lifestyle are adequate physical exercise, constant medical check-ups and a nutritious diet.
Scientists are continually working on new treatments to weaken the progression of COPD, manage symptoms and reduce the pain that come with it. The effectiveness of treatment depends on a wide array of factors, like the age and history of the individual, t severity of COPD, and the presence of other medical conditions.
COPD Inhalers
Of the possible treatments, COPD inhalers are of great use! They improve lung functions in the short term and greatly reduce problems with breathing, or wheezing, and coughing afflictions, and the production of mucus. Additionally, COPD inhalers can lower the risk of other conditions that are associated with COPD, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Inhalers for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are a mainstay of treatment, but understanding the variations between different inhalers can sometimes be confusing.
To clarify the sorts of COPD medications, or COPD inhalers that are available, we will list the types of COPD inhalants available and new COPD meds that are helping patients with COPD symptoms alleviate their symptoms. COPD inhalers can contain either a single medication or a combination of medications.
COPD medications include:
A bronchodilator relaxes the muscles around your airways, which reduces shortness of breath and relieves the tendency for wheezing or coughing.
According to the Mayo Clinic the following medications are available: Short-acting bronchodilators include albuterol (ProAir HFA, Ventolin HFA, others), levalbuterol (Xopenex HFA), and ipratropium (Atrovent). The long-acting bronchodilators include tiotropium (Spiriva), salmeterol (Serevent), formoterol (Foradil, Perforomist), arformoterol (Brovana), indacaterol (Arcapta) and aclidinium (Tudorza).
Inhaled steroids, or corticosteroids reduce inflammation in your airways and help to slow the progression of the COPD by reducing the exacerbations of symptoms. Available medications are (Flovent HFA, Flonase, others) and budesonide (Pulmicort Flexhaler, Uceris, others).
A combination of several different bronchodilators are offered such as Salmeterol and fluticasone (Advair) and formoterol and budesonide (Symbicort).
Related Topics (Ads):
- 1.COPD Inhalers
- 2.COPD Treatment
- 3.What Does COPD Stand For
- 4.COPD Meds
Beyond Stem Cells
Attempts at cell regeneration in humans have been largely focused on using stem cells. Because these cells are not yet specialized, theoretically they can be manipulated into serving any function. However, a small sub-group of scientists are thinking outside the box and attempting to use already specialized cells to regenerate new cells and tissue.
This study is not the first-time scientists have observed mature cells well past the believed regeneration period give rise to new cells. Cellular regeneration is a behavior perfected by animals, such as certain species of lizards and fish, which allows them to go as far as regrow whole limbs — even their heads. Humans are also capable of cellular regeneration to a much less impressive extent. Our skin and hair cells are constantly regenerating, but other bodily cells are much less capable of regeneration — or so we thought until recently.
Last week a collaboration of doctors from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the Victor Chang Institute in Australia succeeded in developing a way to get mature heart cells to regenerate. By modeling the research for their study after the regeneration capacities of salamanders and zebrafish, the team developed a way to stimulate the release of a hormone that causes cardiac cell division. So far, this cardiac regeneration was only observed in lab mice, but the team is hopeful that it can be replicated in humans in as little as five years.
Discovering a way to regenerate mature human tissue can open the door to everything from reversing the damage of cancer and heart attacks to changing the lives of amputees. These studies suggest that this science-fiction-esque idea may actually be possible.
Understanding how and why these mature cells are regenerating into different types of lung tissue may be the key to treating certain types of lung damage caused by conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In the case of COPD, damage to the lungs makes it difficult to breathe. Although patients may somewhat control the condition, there is currently no cure. The ability to regrow damaged lung tissue on demand, then, could completely change treatment options for COPD patients.
COPD Inhalers
Sources:https://www.healthline.com/health/copd/facts-statistics-infographic#1
https://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/copd/learn-about-copd/how-serious-is-copd.html
https://www.statista.com/topics/4339/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-copd-in-the-us/
http://www.emphysemafoundation.org/index.php/about-uss/privacy/83-copd-emphysema-articles/267-regenerative-medicine-breakthrough-pushes-copd-treatment-forward-marks-win-for-method
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/copd/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353685