Clinical Medicine Insights: Therapeutics

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading respiratory disease in the world and third leading cause of death in United States. COPD is not recognized as an isolated respiratory disease anymore; in fact it is one of the dreaded diseases with significant systemic involvement and complications. Treatment of COPD requires team work and efforts among physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and physical therapists. Treatment of patients with frequent exacerbations is a heavy burden on healthcare network. In the last few years, some improvements in the management of COPD have been made, owing to new drugs and management strategies, along with non-pharmacologic treatment of COPD with pulmonary rehabilitation and surgical interventions. Smoking cessation is still the best strategy to prevent COPD and prevent further progression of disease. In this review, we discuss pharmacotherapy of COPD including management of acute exacerbations, pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation and role of vaccination in COPD patients.