[TELEMEdical moNiTORing for COPD patients (Telementor COPD): Study protocol of a multicentre, randomised, controlled study].

Background: COPD is one of the most common causes of death in Europe, and is associated with a high exacerbation and hospitalization rate as well as high medical costs. The aim of the study was early detection of exacerbations, preventative intervention through optimized outpatient care, and thereby to decrease rates of rehospitalizations.

Methods And Intervention: Telementor COPD is a prospective, multicentre, unblinded, randomized, controlled study with a study duration of 12 months, implemented at seven clinics and 16 pneumology practices in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

Radiation exposure by medical X-ray applications.

Radioactive material and ionising radiation play a central role in medical diagnostics and therapy. The benefit of ionising radiation is opposed by the risk of irreparable damage of the human organism. This risk, especially for developing malign neoplasms, has particularly been investigated in the population surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also increasingly in persons with occupational or medical exposure to ionising radiation.