Gerard Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP, professor and founding chair, Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, discusses a new trial that investigated how long treatment would last for patients with emphysema, and if any complications arose.
Patients with emphysema had an opportunity to participate in a long-term trial, allowing outcomes to be measured over years instead of months, said Gerard Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP, professor and founding chair, Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
Today at the at the 2023 American Thoracic Society International Conference, Criner presented long-term data on the EMPROVE trial, which investigated benefits of the Spiration Valve System in patients who have emphysema.
Transcript
Why did you decide to study this topic?
Patients with emphysema suffer from hyperinflation, and that hyperinflation has a significant contribution to the morbidity and mortality of the disease. Over the last 20 years, various attempts of trying to decrease the degree of hyperinflation have included medicines, plus other surgical and less-invasive forms of therapy. There are bronchoscopic techniques; the ones that are approved in the United States are in the endobronchial valves. [The] EMPROVE study was a prospective randomized multicenter controlled trial that was conducted in patients who were hyperinflated with emphysema to see if lobar occlusion could decrease the amount of air trapping and could result in improving the patient outcome measured by improvements in lung function, quality of life, [and] reduction in shortness of breath.
Most of the therapies that have looked at this range of treatments are really focused at patients that are 3 months, 6 months, 12 months in outcome. But when it's brought into clinical practice, the questions that patients ask and providers ask, [is] “How long do these effects last?”
So, the genesis of this long-term evaluation was a look at the durability of the treatment effect, see if it remains, as well as looking at the complications as a result of the therapy in a cohort of patients that were followed up to 5 years after the treatment.
Bringing Connectivity to the Specialty Pharmacy Workflow
May 2nd 2024In a session during the final full day of conference activity at AXS24, experts from CVS Health and Surescripts emphasized the need to simplify the prescribing workflow for specialty medication through proactive messaging, automation, and interoperability.
Read More
Tackling Health Inequality: The Power of Education and Experience
April 30th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our final episode of this limited series and our conversation with Janine Jelks-Seale, MSPPM, director of health equity at UPMC Health Plan.
Listen
Industry Experts Tackle Specialty Drug Access Challenges for Employer Benefit Plans
May 2nd 2024Representatives from ICON plc and Symphony Health joined forces at AXS24 to discuss the challenges of managing high-cost specialty drugs and how they influence self-funded employer benefit plan design and employee access to specialty medications.
Read More
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen
Joanne Mizell: Lifestyle Modification Programs Take Holistic Aim at Metabolic Disease
May 1st 2024Joanne Mizell shares insurer strategies in addressing the escalating rates of metabolic diseases, highlighting the importance of holistic treatment methods like lifestyle modification programs, which integrate nutrition, physical activity, and community engagement.
Read More
Latest Advances and Updates of Treatment in the Real World at AUA
May 1st 2024The annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) not only presents the newest therapies coming out but showcases the latest in how treatments are being used in the real world, said Stephen Freedland, MD, of Cedars Sinai.
Read More