United for Bronchiectasis in Awareness Month
En lovexair We are committed to raising awareness, research and education about bronchiectasis, a respiratory condition that deserves our full attention.
From July 4th to 6th, we had the honor of attending the 7th World Conference on Bronchiectasis in Dundee, Scotland. It was an enriching experience, with more than 30 presentations by leading specialists in various areas of medicine. Crucial topics were discussed such as:
- Etiology and pathophysiology
- Common comorbidities
- Treatment and control of exacerbations
- New treatments and drugs
- Respiratory physiotherapy
Dr. Chalmers – Asthma and Lung UK Chair of Respiratory Research, University of Dundee – He stressed that, although bronchiectasis has been a neglected disease, interest in this pathology is growing significantly worldwide. Thanks to new registries and research, we are getting closer to finding effective treatments personalized according to the endophenotype of patients, working in multidisciplinary teams.
The inclusion of patients in clinical-scientific registries and comprehensive care programs is essential. These efforts allow us to create a clear map of the real situation of patients, identify new avenues of research and improve care models, adapting them to the lifestyle and experiences of patients from their home to the primary clinic and hospital.
Eva Maroto, coordinator of the Happyair team of physiotherapists, at the World Congress on Bronchiectasis
The importance of the European Bronchiectasis Registry (EMBARC) and challenges
New scientific research is helping to reveal the pathophysiological mechanisms that cause it and to identify new research targets for treatment. The creation of the European Bronchiectasis Registry (EMBARC)) and other national registries are helping to define the specific epidemiology of this pathology and are providing valuable data on the natural history of the disease, its comorbidities and treatments. There are increasingly more multidisciplinary teams made up of nursing, physiotherapy and other health professionals to care for patients, but there is still much work to be done in this regard.
New treatments in development
Until now, therapy and treatment specific to the COPD and the Cystic fibrosis for the treatment of bronchiectasis, but thanks to these investigations and working groups, more and more specific therapies are being developed to treat this condition. These are the advances in medication development.
Vicious circle?
One of the aspects that was most emphasized was the vicious circle that occurs in BQ. There are many diseases that cause this condition or are associated with it, but most have common characteristics that lead to remodeling and dilation of the airways, giving rise to this typical whirlwind.
This concept explains why individual treatments such as antibiotics or anti-inflammatories alone have only modest effects, as they do not break the vicious circle that would stop the disease.
This disease is very heterogeneous, which is explained by the diversity of endophenotypes that exist in this pathology, as in severe asthma or COPD. For this reason, the use of multiomics (genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, proteomics and microbiomics) provides a large amount of data with which to work in a holistic way, but we are still lacking research on this.
Conclusions of the Congress
Thanks to new records and research, an effective treatment based on personalization based on the patient's endophenotype and the work of a multidisciplinary team is getting closer.
The importance of records and patient participation in the management of their data
The inclusion of patients in clinical-scientific registries and comprehensive care programs is essential to create a clear map of their real situation and to see what avenues of research are necessary, how the patient progresses in a care plan and what information can be provided to better guide us in care models adapted to their lifestyle from home to work and in primary and hospital clinics.
Furthermore, patient participation in research and observational studies on how the disease affects their daily lives is also crucial to continue advancing in deepening our knowledge and thus responding with improved clinical practice, care and development of promising new therapies. Registries such as EMBARC are successful projects because the full participation of all people: health professionals, researchers, patients is how we advance at an accelerated pace towards new treatments and care suitable for each person.
Read Related Article:
