COPD patients who incur higher healthcare resource utilisation show reduced physical activity, increased respiratory failure and increased systemic inflammation.

Nearly one-quarter of the patients with COPD in this study presented clinically significant depression associated with worse quality of life, reduced exercise capacity, greater dyspnea, and a higher score in the BODE index.

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Antibiotic treatment of our population was in compliance with local guidelines. The rate of failure observed in our study was lower than that reported in previous studies; however, the small percentage of patients that required hospital attention generated almost two-thirds of the total costs of the exacerbations.

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The occurrence of a bronchopleural fistula (BPF) continues to represent a challenging management problem, and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. A novel and successful technique that uses submucosal injection of a tissue expander for bronchoscopic occlusion of BPFs has been designed. This method may be used either alone or in combination with bronchoscopic instillation of n-butyl-cyanoacrylate glue. The occlusion technique is described, with a presentation of two patients who were successfully treated with this method. The submucosal injection of a tissue expander is an effective, economical and minimally invasive technique for managing BPFs.

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