BRC researchers involved in development of new guideline for bronchiectasis

UCL and UCLH researchers have been key to the development of new guidelines on treating bronchiectasis.

The latest guidelines on the long-term condition in which airways of the lungs become abnormally widened, leading to mucus build-up and making the lungs more vulnerable to infection, include stepwise management plans and guidance on managing patients when the condition is deteriorating.

Professor John Hurst of UCL Respiratory is an author of the British Thoracic Society’s guideline and has 2 publications cited as evidence underpinning the guideline.

Research by UCLH/UCL clinician scientist Professor Jeremy Brown also forms part of the evidence base for the guideline.

In bronchiectasis, most common symptoms are a persistent cough that usually brings up phlegm and breathlessness.

The guidelines, aimed at all healthcare practitioners involved in the care of adults with bronchiectasis, is published as a supplement to the January 2019 edition of Thorax, the BTS’s official journal.

Around 5 in 1,000 people in the UK develop bronchiectasis. Two-thirds of patients have another condition, with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) being the most common.