Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

This year’s European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Madrid was, as always, the place to be to get the most recent updates in important areas of pulmonary diseases.

A large observational study from Denmark showed that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients treated with ß-blockers did not only have fewer hospitalisations but also a lower total mortality compared with COPD patients treated with other antihypertensive drugs.

Different studies have shown that e-cigarettes are not successful aids for smoking cessation. In most cases, e-cigarettes lead to dual use: smokers consume e-cigarettes in addition to conventional cigarettes. Prof. Jørgen Vestbo (member of the ERS Tobacco Control Committee; University of Manchester, UK) summarised the ERS position towards vaping: a clear “no” to all vaping devices.

Results from the INBUILD trial show that nintedanib slowed lung function decline in patients with interstitial lung disease other than IPF by 57% across the overall study population over 52 weeks. Up to now, there are no treatment options for patients with non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis disease.

If you have not been able to experience these aspects of the ERS yourself, this report will outline the most significant advancements discussed at the conference, and practical advice disseminated there. Besides the topics indicated above, interesting findings regarding pulmonary embolism and pulmonary hypertension are also discussed. So, we hope that you will enjoy reading this Conference Report!

Kind regards,
Prof. Richard Dekhuijzen

Biography

Prof. P.N. Richard Dekhuijzen is Professor of Pulmonology at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His specific area of clinical and research interest includes asthma, COPD, and inhalation technology.  He studied medicine at VU Amsterdam and completed his training in pulmonology at the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis in Amsterdam and in the Academic Hospital Nijmegen. In 1989, he finished his PhD thesis on training of the respiratory muscles in COPD, followed by a PhD thesis on steroid induced myopathy of the diaphragm in 1994 at the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium). He is author/co-author of over 350 peer-reviewed papers and many textbook chapters on respiratory medicine. Until 2016, he chaired the Department of Pulmonary Diseases, the Heart-Lung Centre Nijmegen, and the Medical Staff at Radboudumc. From 2008-2010, he was Head of the Cardiology Department at Radboudumc. ​He is the scientific chair of the Aerosol Drug Management Improvement Team (ADMIT) and chair of the Dutch Inhalation Technology Working Group. Currently, he is chair of the Medical Ethical Committee of the Radboudumc and chair of the Dutch Association of Medical Ethical Committees.

Conflict of Interest Statement:
In the last 5 years, Richard Dekhuijzen and/or his department received research grants, unrestricted educational grants, and/or fees for lectures and advisory board meetings from AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Chiesi, GSK, Mundipharma, Novartis, Sandoz, Teva, and Zambon.



Posted on 28 November 201923 March 2021