Bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is an important research tool for assessing airway inflammation in a variety of inflammatory lung diseases. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), BAL recovery is often low, making analysis of the recovered fluid difficult to interpret. The present authors hypothesised that the degree of emphysema may predict BAL recovery. A total of 20 C...

Recently, it has been shown that the accumulated volume of B-cells in small airways is increased in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages 3 and 4. Little is known about the number of B-cells in central airways in COPD. The present authors hypothesised that the number of B-cells in bronchial biopsies of large airways is ...

s were reviewed by a single reviewer and, for those studies meeting the eligibility criteria, fulltext articles were obtained. Articles with an unknown eligibility were reviewed with a second clinical epidemiologist and then a group of epidemiologists until consensus was established. Data extraction was carried out by the author. Inclusion Criteria  studies comparing clinical efficacy of the i...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory disease characterized by progressive decline in lung function accompanied by airway narrowing due to inflammation, fibrosis and mucus plugging, associated by parenchymal destruction with loss of elasticity, gas exchange surface area, and airway support with subsequent early airway closure [1]. COPD affects more than 400 million peo...

Dr. Dildar Ahmad graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin in 1962. He did post-graduate training in Respirology at the Institute of Chest Disease, London, England from 1964 to 1965 . He was granted his fellowship in Respirology in 1974. He joined the faculty at the University of Western Ontario in 1987 and currently holds the rank of Emeritus Professor of Medicine in the ...

1 The British Thoracic Society. Intermediate care – hospital-athome in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. British Thoracic Society guidelines. Thorax 2007; 62: 200–210. 2 British Lung Foundation. Invisible lives – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – finding the missing millions. www.lunguk.org Date last updated: November 2007. Date last accessed: April 2008. 3 Global Initiative f...

introduction the global initiative for Chronic obstructive lung disease (gold) recently published an updated 2016 edition of the global strategy for the diagnosis, management and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Copd)1 the aim of the document is to guide healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and management thereof and to differentiate patients with Copd from those with a...

Interleukin-6 (IL6) is encoded by the IL6 gene in human and acts as pro-inflammatory cytokine and an anti-inflammatory cytokine. Recent studies established that IL6 substantially contribute in the diagnosed of systemic inflammation for the patients suffering from lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Thereof, this work aimed to investigate the prot...