This book considers chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) not as a simple inflammation of the lung but as a systemic inflammatory disease. Beginning with epidemiological studies, etiology, diagnosis and treatment, it elaborates further, illustrating some comorbidities and associations with other respiratory diseases. As such it provides numerous improved and more comprehensive treatment methods, including drug therapies as well as some non-drug therapies. There are also chapters describing the pathogenesis, genetic abnormalities and newly discovered pathogenetic mechanisms that are...

This book covers various aspects of a respiratory system disorder associated with prescribed drugs that do not yet have established treatment guidelines, and for which the only treatment is to discontinue taking the drug. Very little clinical evidence regarding the disorder is available, since randomized trials cannot to be carried out, the onset of the disorder cannot be predicted, and the resulting pathological condition is life-threatening. However, the need for an established treatment continues to grow due to the introduction of many new drugs, such as anti-neoplastic drugs, biological...