Adult Severe Asthma Registries: A Global and Growing Inventory.

Aim: The International Severe Asthma Registry (ISAR; http://isaregistries.org/) uses standardised variables to enable multi-country and adequately powered research in severe asthma. This study aims to look at the data countries within ISAR and non-ISAR countries reported collecting that enable global research that support individual country interests.

Association of the CFTR gene with asthma and airway mucus hypersecretion.

Introduction: Asthma with airway mucus hypersecretion is an inadequately characterized variant of asthma. While several studies have reported that hypersecreting patients may carry genetic variants in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, many of those studies have been questioned for their numerous limitations and contradictory results.

Objectives: (1) To determine the presence of genetic variants of the CFTR gene in patients with asthma with and without airway mucus hypersecretion.

Accreditation of specialized asthma units for adults in Spain: an applicable experience for the management of difficult-to-control asthma.

This paper, developed by consensus of staff physicians of accredited asthma units for the management of severe asthma, presents information on the process and requirements for already-existing asthma units to achieve official accreditation by the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR). Three levels of specialized asthma care have been established based on available resources, which include specialized units for highly complex asthma, specialized asthma units, and basic asthma units. Regardless of the level of accreditation obtained, the distinction of "excellence" could be granted when more requirements in the areas of provision of care, technical and human resources, training in asthma, and teaching and research activities were met at each level.

Economic Assessment and Budgetary Impact of a Telemedicine Procedure and Spirometry Quality Control in the Primary Care Setting.

Objective: To evaluate the economic impact of a telemedicine procedure designed to improve the quality of lung function testing (LFT) in primary care in a public healthcare system, compared with the standard method.

Materials And Methods: The economic impact of 9,039 LFTs performed in 51 health centers (2010-2013) using telespirometry (TS) compared to standard spirometry (SS) was studied.

Results: TS costs more per unit than SS (€47.

Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) for preventive management of COPD patients.

Background: The use of information and communication technologies to manage chronic diseases allows the application of integrated care pathways, and the optimization and standardization of care processes. Decision support tools can assist in the adherence to best-practice medicine in critical decision points during the execution of a care pathway.

Objectives: The objectives are to design, develop, and assess a clinical decision support system (CDSS) offering a suite of services for the early detection and assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which can be easily integrated into a healthcare providers' work-flow.

Vibration response imaging versus perfusion scan in lung cancer surgery evaluation.

Objective: Ventilation/perfusion scan is a standard procedure in high-risk surgical patients to predict pulmonary function after surgery. Vibration response imaging is a technique that could be used in these patients. The objective of our study was to compare this imaging technique with the usual scanning technique for predicting postoperative forced expiratory volume.

Evaluation of the utility of vibration response imaging device and Operation Planning Software in the assessment of patients before lung resection surgery.

Background And Objectives: A variety of methods have been used to evaluate patients with lung cancer to define a patient cohort at high risk for postoperative mortality and respiratory complications associated with lung resection surgery. Our aim was to evaluate the utility of vibration response imaging (VRI(XP)) Operation Planning Software (O-Plan) in assessing suitability for surgical resection and for the prediction of postoperative forced expiratory volume in 1s (ppoFEV(1)).

Methods: A total of 58 subjects with lung cancer underwent evaluation prior to lung resection surgery and postoperative lung function after surgery.