New Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Guidelines
November 19th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — After a two-year review, new clinical standards for patients with cystic fibrosis are being released. Study authors say there are so many treatment options; they hope these guidelines will be useful for physicians.
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a complex genetic disease affecting the lungs and other organs. A CF patient usually has a thick, sticky mucus that renders them incapable of fighting off infections. CF is always fatal, but the life expectancy has increased from a few years to 36 years.
For the new guidelines, researchers reviewed original research and systematic review literature from 1983 to 2006. They looked at the clinical efficacy and safety of more than seven types of treatments. They found the treatments that got the best grade included inhaled tobramycin and Dornase alfa. Inhaled tobramycin is an antibiotic used to improve lung function and Dornase alfa or DNase degrades the free DNA that accumulates in CF mucus ultimately improving lung function. Both of these treatments got an âAâ for patients with moderate to severe disease. Researchers also laid out guidelines for mild CF and made suggestions of what treatments physicians should not use.
âThere is a challenge for the clinician to decide what therapy to start first, or when to add another therapy,â explained Patrick A. Flume, M.D. âWe are putting together an educational program to assist the community in implementation of the guidelines and hope to launch a web-based program in January.â The guidelines are for patients over the age of six. Researchers say the guidelines will be updated every five years.
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SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2007