15 November: World COPD Day

One in Ten People Living with COPD

Did you know that over 50 percent of people who have smoked for more than 10 years develop COPD? Yet 20 percent of smokers are not even aware they have COPD! This insidious disease, which is spreading rapidly today, can progress for many years without showing any symptoms. Chest Diseases Specialist Prof. Dr. Reha Baran has issued important warnings and recommendations regarding Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which affects one in ten people in our country. Although there are promising developments in treatment, COPD is a disease that, once it takes hold, usually offers little chance of reversal. Because it progresses insidiously, 20 percent of smokers are not even aware they have COPD! Chest Diseases Specialist Prof. Dr. Reha Baran notes that COPD, one of the most dangerous lung diseases, can be classified as mild, moderate, severe and very severe, stating: "Increased use of tobacco and tobacco products, exposure to toxic gases and particles with industrialization, environmental pollution and passive smoking create conditions for COPD. In addition, poorly treated asthma can also develop into COPD."

Quitting Smoking Is the First Treatment Priority!

COPD, which ranks sixth among causes of death worldwide, is typically treated with lifelong bronchodilator medications, intermittent corticosteroids and antibiotics, and sputum-thinning agents. However, emphasizing that quitting smoking is the primary treatment method, Prof. Dr. Reha Baran notes that drug treatments provide very limited benefit in severe and very severe COPD patients. Patients generally require prolonged oxygen support, and their quality of life is extremely poor. Prof. Dr. Reha Baran emphasizes that significant gains are now being achieved in such patients using interventional bronchoscopic methods depending on the patient's COPD status.

One in Ten People Have COPD

One in ten people in our country lives with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. In smokers over 10 years, the prevalence of COPD rises above 50 percent. Patients' main complaints are shortness of breath, wheezing and cough. Since medications are of limited use especially in severe and very severe COPD patients, alternative treatment methods can be utilized. Prof. Dr. Reha Baran states: "In patients with advanced-stage chronic bronchitis as the primary condition, we clean the mucosa of all bronchi bronchoscopically using a balloon. The procedure is performed under general anesthesia with no incisions or sutures. The bronchoscopic procedure, which takes approximately one hour, is followed by patient monitoring and discharge the next day. If necessary, one or two additional sessions can be performed."  

Improvement of Nearly 40 Percent Can Be Achieved

Thanks to treatment applied in cases where the patient's air sacs are destroyed (emphysema), shortness of breath and oxygen requirement decrease. In this procedure, smart wires (spiral coils) are also inserted bronchoscopically under general anesthesia, and the damaged, non-functioning areas of the lung are compressed so that other lung regions function better. The patient is discharged the next day. Prof. Dr. Reha Baran notes that with these procedures, functional improvement of 15-40 percent can be achieved in advanced COPD patients, and states that as the patient's oxygen requirement decreases, walking capacity also increases accordingly.