March 12, 2013 – COPD Advocacy Day

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Once again, The COPD Foundation will partner with the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) for their annual Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill on March 12th. This advocacy day is a great opportunity to stand up for the COPD community, speak to our nation’s leaders, and have some fun. This year we will be advocating for increased access to respiratory therapists as well as asking members to join the Congressional COPD Caucus.

Can’t join in person? The Foundation will also be hosting a virtual Lobby Week from March 11th-17th that will involve the entire COPD community. Please visit the COPD Action Center throughout the week of March 11th-17th to stand with our advocates on Capitol Hill.

Difficulties Receiving Oxygen?

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Are you experiencing any difficulty receiving liquid oxygen or concentrators? If you are, it’s important to let the COPD Foundation know. Call the C.O.P.D. Information Line to share your stories. They will continue to work with policymakers and suppliers to make sure the COPD community has access to safe, affordable and reliable oxygen. The Information Line can be reached at: (866) 316-2673, and is open 9AM to 9PM EST Monday through Friday.

Technology aims to improve lung transplant odds

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More than any other vital organ offered for transplant, the lung is susceptible to injury that is difficult to prevent, detect, and predict.

To err on the side of caution, 80 percent of organ donors’ lungs are rejected as unsuitable, a waste lamented by doctors and patients alike.

Now, the University of Pennsylvania and five other medical centers are testing technology aimed at improving the situation. It involves cleaning and refurbishing donor lungs while the organ “breathes” in a specially designed machine. Lungs that would normally be discarded can be tuned up, evaluated, and, in many cases, reused. Continued: http://bit.ly/11fDTYF

Useful websites

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Website list courtesy: www.pulmonarypaper.org

Home Oxygen Survey

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The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), with the support of patient support groups and home medical equipment providers, is conducting a survey about oxygen services that are being provided in the home. If you use oxygen in the home, please take a few minutes to take this survey.  The results of the survey will be published on the AARC’s web site when it is completed. Questions about the survey or the results can be directed to Nick Macmillan, RRT, FAARC.

Thanks for your help! http://bit.ly/UcvHBy

UCLA performs first ‘breathing lung’ transplant in United States

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The lung transplant team at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical successfully performed the nation’s first “breathing lung” transplant in mid-November. The patient, a 57-year-old who suffered from pulmonary fibrosis received two new lungs and is recuperating from the seven-hour surgery.

The groundbreaking transplant involved an experimental organ-preservation device known as the Organ Care System (OCS), which keeps donor lungs functioning and “breathing” in a near-physiologic state outside the body during transport. The current standard involves transporting donor lungs in a non-functioning, non-breathing state inside an icebox.

With the OCS, the lungs are removed from a donor’s body and are placed in a high-tech OCS box, where they are immediately revived to a warm, breathing state and perfused with oxygen and a special solution supplemented with packed red-blood cells. The device also features monitors that display how the lungs are functioning during transport.  In addition, the OCS could help expand the donor pool by allowing donor lungs to be safely transported across longer distances. http://transplants.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=38

Glaxo starting first US inhaler recycling program

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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Patients who use respiratory inhalers will be able to recycle the devices for the first time in the U.S., according to British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which is launching its “Complete the Cycle” program in drugstores in 31 cities.

GlaxoSmithKline is the top seller of respiratory medicines in the U.S., with brands including the blockbuster Advair, but its new program will also recycle inhalers made by competitors. The program, starting in cities from Anchorage, Alaska, to Atlanta, will enable patients to drop off inhalers in boxes at participating pharmacies. When bags inside the boxes are full, they’ll be shipped to a Glaxo recycling contractor.

“We expect to bring back at least 100,000 inhalers in the 31 markets” in the first year, Jorge Bartolome, Glaxo’s senior vice president for its respiratory business, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.  http://bit.ly/RqPGwd   http://us.gsk.com/html/responsibility/complete-the-cycle.html