Open AccessEosinophilia as a treatable trait in three patients with asthma and COPD
Author(s) -
Ramsahai James Michael,
Simpson Jodie,
Wark Peter
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
respirology case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.304
H-Index - 9
ISSN - 2051-3380
DOI - 10.1002/rcr2.295
Subject(s) - medicine , eosinophilia , exacerbation , copd , asthma , lung function , intensive care medicine , pulmonary disease , trait , asthma exacerbations , disease , pulmonary function testing , physical therapy , lung , computer science , programming language
The combination of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in an individual can present significant challenges to achieving satisfactory outcomes. More recently, the concepts of precision medicine and treatable traits have arisen as promising tools to improve care for this group. In this series, we present three cases of patients with features of both asthma and COPD in addition to peripheral blood eosinophilia. The novel implementation of personalized management of the individual based on this treatable trait (eosinophilia) resulted in significant benefits. These benefits included improvement in symptoms, lung function, and a marked decline in critical care admissions and exacerbation rates.