Many sufferers depend on oxygen treatment
Jump to full article: BBC Online, 2002-04-01
Intro: Evidence of blood vessel damage in the lungs of smokers with early lung disease could lead researchers towards new drugs.
Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have often suffered so much damage to their lungs by the time they are diagnosed that there is little that can be done to help them.
The illness, a combination of emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is often caused by long-term smoking.
The only therapy is giving oxygen, which delivers some benefits but cannot prevent eventual deterioration and death from the illness.
It is the most common cause of respiratory-related death in the UK - and 56% of all working days lost among men are due to it, costing the economy many billions of pounds each year.
There is debate among doctors about whether to try to develop treatments for the lungs of the patients - or the blood vessels supplying the lungs.
The latest research, published in the European Respiratory Journal, could help push research towards the blood vessels.
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