Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) may improve respiratory symptoms and skeletal muscle strength in patients with COPD. We aimed to evaluate changes in ultrasound (US) measurements of diaphragmatic mobility and thickness after PR in COPD patients and to test its correlation with PR outcomes. Methods: Twenty-five COPD patients were enrolled and underwent a diaphragm US assessment before and after a 12-week PR program. Results: We found a correlation between the intraindividual percentage of change in the diaphragmatic length of zone of apposition at functional residual capacity (ΔLzapp%) and the change in 6-minute walking distance (6MWD) after PR (rho=0.49, P=0.02). ΔLzapp% was significantly higher in patients with improved 6MWD and COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score (mean rank=12.03±2.57 vs 6.88±4.37; P=0.02). A ΔLzapp% of ≥10% was able to discriminate among patients with improved 6MWD, with a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 74%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for ΔLzapp% was 0.83. A cutoff value of ≥9% of ΔLzapp% had a positive predictive value in discriminating a reduction in ≥2 points of CAT score after PR, with a sensitivity and a specificity of 80% and 62%, respectively. Conclusion: Diaphragm US assessment represents a useful prognostic marker of PR outcomes in COPD patients.

Introduction: Dupilumab is a monoclonal antibody targeting IL-4Rα recently licensed for severe asthma (SA). A Named Patients Program (NPP) was created in Italy before its commercial availability for SA patients with no other available therapeutic options. We aimed to assess the real-world effectiveness of dupilumab in patients with SA and unmet needs. Methods: We performed a multicentre retrospective study, including SA patients admitted to the NPP treated with dupilumab for 12 months. Data on the number of exacerbations, Asthma Control Test (ACT), pre-bronchodilator FEV₁%, oral corticosteroids (OCSs) use, FeNO and eosinophils count in peripheral blood were recorded at baseline and after 3, 6, and 12 months. Results: We included 18 SA patients (mean age 53.3± 12.4 years, 66.7% female). Eleven (61.1%) were OCSs dependent. Five patients (27.8%) received previous anti-IgE and/or anti-IL-5 agents. A significant improvement in ACT score (from 15.7± 5.1 to 18.8± 4.8, p=0.023), OCSs intake [10 (5– 25) mg/day to 0 (0– 5) mg/day, p=0.0333] and FeNO [from 25 (20– 80) ppb to 21 (10.9– 55.3) ppb, p=0.0190] was already detected after 3 months of treatment. After 12 months, a statistically significant decrease in the number of exacerbations from 2 (0– 3) to 0 (0– 1) (p< 0.0068) and increase in FEV₁% from 73.5± 19.5% to 87.1± 19.2% (p=0.0407) and ACT to a mean value of 22.4± 1.7 (p< 0.0001) and the interruption of OCSs in all the patients (p< 0.0001) was observed. A transient increase in the eosinophil count was observed in five patients (above 1000 cells/μL in 2 cases) after 3 months, without any clinical effect. Conclusion: Dupilumab improved all the explored clinical outcomes after 12 months, and the transient hypereosinophilia did not modify treatment response. These real-world data confirm the results reported in randomized controlled trials and provide an important opportunity to characterize the clinical impact of the treatment in a non-trial setting. Further real-world studies with a larger cohort of patients are needed to confirm these findings.

As the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading worldwide, countries are dealing with different phases of the pandemic. Lately, scientific evidence has been growing about the measures for reopening respiratory outpatient services during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to summarize the key differences and similarities among recommendations by different national and international organizations. We searched on Google and Pubmed for recently published National and International Recommendations/Guidelines/Position Papers from professional organizations and societies, offering a guidance to physicians on how to safely perform pulmonary function testing during COVID-19 pandemic. We also searched for spirometry manufacturers' operational indications. Indications on spirometry were released by the Chinese Task force, the American Thoracic Society, the European Respiratory Society, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française, the Spanish Societies (Sociedad Espanola de Neumologia y Cirugia Toracica, Sociedad Espanola de Alergologia e Inmunologia Clinica, Asociacion de Especialistas en Enfermeria del trabajo, Asociacion de Enfermeria Comunitaria), the Sociedade Portuguesa de Pneumologia, the British Thoracic Society/Association for Respiratory Technology & Physiology, the Irish Thoracic Society, the Sociedad Uruguaya de Neumologia, the Italian Thoracic Society and the Italian Respiratory Society, Cleveland Clinic and Nebraska Medical Center. Detailed technical recommendations were found on manufacturers’ websites. We found several similarities across available guidelines for safely resuming pulmonary function services, as well as differences in criteria for selecting eligible patients for which spirometry is deemed essential and advice which was not homogenous on room ventilation precautions. This study shows a synthesis of national/international guidelines allowing practicing physicians to adapt and shape the way to organize their outpatient services locally. There is generally good agreement on the importance of limiting pulmonary function testing to selected cases only. However, significant differences concerning the subsets of candidate patients, as well as on the management of adequate room ventilation, were observed.

The nonrecognition of asthma-associated comorbidities is often responsible for the therapeutic failure and the worsening of symptoms, and it is associated with frequent exacerbations, higher disease severity, and increased health costs. Bronchiectasis, one of the most frequent asthma-associated comorbidities, can increase airways inflammation and exacerbation rates and cause respiratory functional impairment. The aim of this article is to review the interactions between bronchiectasis and asthma, in order to better identify patients in the overlap between the 2 diseases and to select an “ad hoc” therapy. A literature search on PubMed/MEDLINE was performed using the following search terms: bronchiectasis in asthma, the association between asthma and bronchiectasis, comorbidities in asthma, and severe asthma. This review analyzed the following items: incorrect or underestimated diagnosis of asthma and bronchiectasis, prevalence of bronchiectasis in asthma, the impact of bronchiectasis in asthma, radiological imaging features of the 2 diseases, etiopathogenesis, and common causes (such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, immune deficits, chronic rhinosinusitis and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, and treatment of asthma and bronchiectasis). The concomitant presence of bronchiectasis and asthma should be suspected and investigated in patients with severe asthma, frequent exacerbations, and not responding to standard therapy. This clinical phenotype, characterized by a more severe disease, worse outcomes, and functional decline, must be readily recognized in order to choose the most appropriate therapeutic approach, able to potentially improve the management of bronchial asthma, to prevent the onset of exacerbations as well the functional decline, and to reduce health costs.