TITLE: Understanding CF Lung Therapies
Dr. Joan DeCelie-Germana, director of the CF Center at Schneider Children’s
Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York, and assistant professor of pediatrics at
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York discusses the
importance in maintaining a consistent daily treatment regimen to manage lung
disease.
· With the help of today’s CF lung therapies, CF patients are now living longer
and more active lives than ever before.
· Pulmonary treatments, especially the standard therapies, are critical to
helping CF patients stay as healthy as possible.
· For optimum health, it’s important to adhere to a doctor-recommended treatment
schedule each day, and to take the treatments in the right order.
· A recommended order of daily treatment for a CF patient is Bronchodialator,
Pulmozyme® (dornase alfa), The Vest or similar chest wall oscillator, and then
TOBI® (tobramycin solution for inhalation), but your doctor will recommend the
treatment schedule that’s right for you. Add-on therapies such as hypertonic
saline may be appropriate for certain patient populations.
· Getting regular physical exercise and following a nutritious, high-calorie
diet are also important for maintaining good health.