Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) refers to a group of diseases causing airflow blockage and breathing-related issues resulting in symptoms that include chronic coughing, difficulty breathing, wheezing, chest tightness, and increased mucus production.

Statistics show that over 16 million people suffer from COPD in the U.S. only and estimates suggest that millions more have the condition without being diagnosed. Unfortunately, COPD isn’t curable but treatment can help in managing the condition and improving life quality.

So, let’s have a closer look at the current treatments for COPD and the ones that show promise for the future.

Current COPD Treatments

At the moment, COPD treatments include lifestyle changes, medications, and surgery. The needed treatment option depends on the severity of the symptoms and may change over time as the condition worsens. In short, here are the current COPD treatments available:

Quitting smoking - In most cases, 85 to 90 percent to be precise, COPD is a result of smoking even though it can occur due to other reasons. That said, if you smoke, you must quit.

Inhalers – Your doctor may prescribe bronchodilators, medications that relax the airways to improve symptoms. These can be long-acting, known as maintenance bronchodilators, or short-acting, known as rescue inhalers.

Similarly, you may need to take an anticholinergic inhaler which is just another type of bronchodilator that prevents muscle tightening around the airways. It’s especially recommended for those suffering from both COPD and asthma.

Alternatively, you may be given combination inhalers of a bronchodilator and an inhaled steroid to reduce airway inflammation or other types of combination inhalers depending on the need.

Oxygen therapy – As the condition can cause oxygen levels to drop resulting in dizziness, fatigue, and confusion, oxygen therapy is sometimes needed to reverse some of these effects. It will also help protect the lungs from damage, to the heart, and improve alertness.

Oral medications–Roflumilast (Daliresp) is a common medication for treating severe COPD to reduce airway inflammation and counteract tissue damage. Antibiotics and antivirals are also used for treating COPD especially when there is a flare-up.

Surgery–The last resort for treating COPD is surgery for people with severe, advanced COPD or in case the above-listed options don’t provide any relief. Common surgical options include:

• Bullectomy - surgical removal of one or more giant air spaces called bullae.
• Lung volume reduction – removal of about 30% of damaged or diseased lung tissue.
• Endobronchial valve surgery – placement of tiny valves to block off damaged lung parts.
• Lung transplant – replacement of a damaged lung with a healthy donor lung.

Pulmonary rehab – This is a treatment plan that includes lifestyle changes such as exercise, nutrition, and wellness to address parts of living with the condition that standard medical treatment options don’t include.

Future COPD Treatments

Research is continually being done while doctors and researchers are trying to develop new and more effective medications and procedures to help COPD patients. Here are the two future treatment options for COPD.

Biologics and IL-5 medications – Newer treatments called biologic drugs focus on targeting the causes of COPD to eliminate them and stop inflammation. For instance, a drug called anti-interleukin-5 (IL-5) limits or reduces the number of blood eosinophils to target airway inflammation caused by eosinophils and provide relief from COPD.

Stem cell therapy – Stem cells are undifferentiated cells fed into the body meaning they don’t have any specific purpose or job. Yet, once they are injected, they can become specialized for example to regenerate lung tissue and reverse the damage. Researchers also believe that they could be used to create new alveolar cells which would also be beneficial for COPD patients.