National clinical guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a clinical decision-making algorithm

Treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most important tasks of clinical medicine due to high prevalence of and high mortality from COPD. Treatment of COPD as a heterogeneous disease requires different approaches depending on the severity and the clinical course of COPD. Clinical guidelines have become the principal document that regulates different aspects of management of COPD patients. Algorithms of management and clinical decision making are the crucial part of guidelines because they help achieving a balance between making the decision in different clinical situations and simple graphics. The simplified approach is important for implementation the algorithm into clinical practice. Different evidence-based therapeutic schemes proposed by experts of Russian Respiratory Society and other countries have been enclosed into this article with discussion about their strengths and limitations and possibility of practical use. The Russian algorithm reflects a current view on differentiated management of COPD patients and fits the requirements of Healthcare Ministry of Russian Federation and needs of achieving the optimal balance between high informative significance and a simple graphics of the scheme.

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