Progress in diagnostics and therapy of rheumatic diseases

The new recommendations on diagnosis and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and lung cancer will be discussed in this paper. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) is a partner organization in a programme launched in March 2006 by the World Health Organization’s Global Alliance Against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD). On September 17, 2007, GOLD issued an updated report on best practices for diagnosis, management and prevention of COPD. On August 30, 2007, the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) issued comprehensive updates to their clinical guidelines for diagnosis and management of asthma. The revised guidelines, which update the complete asthma guidelines published in 1991, 1997 and 2002, introduced novel strategies to monitor asthma symptoms. On September 13, 2007, the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) issued the second edition of clinical practice guidelines on lung cancer diagnosis and management. The new guidelines update those first published in 2003.