In this episode of Big Ideas Theater, Dr. Brian Carlin, MD, discusses his forecast for pulmonary rehab studies and the benefits these research endeavors bring to clinicians and patients.
According to Dr. Carlin, there is an increase in pulmonary rehab research, particularly coming out of Europe and Australia. Dr. Carlin highlights an American study conducted a few years ago that evaluated patients at different levels of COPD that underwent pulmonary rehab. The results showed that even patients at mild levels of COPD did well or improved with pulmonary rehab.
Dr. Carlin also explains the importance of evaluating cardiac disease during pulmonary rehab. He discusses a recent study out of Europe about patients entering a pulmonary rehab clinic and having an echocardiogram. The results showed that 50 percent of these patients had abnormalities, and 67 percent of the patients in this group were not known to have cardiac disease.
“We need to be more vigilant in looking for cardiac disease in patients with COPD, particularly when they’ve entered a rehab program,” Dr. Carlin said.
Big Ideas Theater 2017 was filmed at the AARC Congress 2017 in Indianapolis, IN. Congress speakers and lecturers shared their expertise and insights during these brief interviews.
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