A New COPD Paperback
Today I read a very good 160 page book: "100 Questions and Answers About COPD" written by Doctor Campion Quinn, a Long Island internist. It's available at half.com for only about ten dollars (plus shipping).
It's divided into ten sections; is printed on bright white paper; and includes an up-to-date list of Internet resources for patients with COPD. It includes excellent chapters on smoking cessation, pulmonary rehab programs, and oxygen therapy for COPD. Unfamiliar terms are conveniently defined in the wide margins, next to the text where they are first mentioned.
Helpful comments from a patient named Cecil are scattered throughout the book, but I was disappointed that he was never introduced, and the reader never learns much about him. I worried that he was an "imaginary friend" of the physician author. Since the book was published this year (2006), it includes discussions of new treatments, such as lung volume reduction surgery (with general results from the NETT study), and tiotropium (Spiriva).
Of course, the author is much more optimistic about the value and safety of most COPD medications than yours truly.
My primary complaint about this book is that it only has 2 diagrams. Dozens of diagrams and photos would greatly enhance the reader's understanding of COPD. I noticed only a few minor factual errors, such as the idea that DLCO tests are done in a body box and that "HEPA air purifiers can be expensive and require that the filter be changed every 3-6 months".
I also bought a couple of other new books about COPD and plan to read and review them here before I go to the American Thoracic Society meeting in San Diego in a couple of weeks: "Coping with COPD" by Elaine Shimberg and "Life and Breath" by Neil Schachter.
Related Topics: Living with COPD, Quitting Smoking
Technorati Tags: COPD, air purifiers, oxygen therapy, smoking cessation
It's divided into ten sections; is printed on bright white paper; and includes an up-to-date list of Internet resources for patients with COPD. It includes excellent chapters on smoking cessation, pulmonary rehab programs, and oxygen therapy for COPD. Unfamiliar terms are conveniently defined in the wide margins, next to the text where they are first mentioned.
Helpful comments from a patient named Cecil are scattered throughout the book, but I was disappointed that he was never introduced, and the reader never learns much about him. I worried that he was an "imaginary friend" of the physician author. Since the book was published this year (2006), it includes discussions of new treatments, such as lung volume reduction surgery (with general results from the NETT study), and tiotropium (Spiriva).
Of course, the author is much more optimistic about the value and safety of most COPD medications than yours truly.
My primary complaint about this book is that it only has 2 diagrams. Dozens of diagrams and photos would greatly enhance the reader's understanding of COPD. I noticed only a few minor factual errors, such as the idea that DLCO tests are done in a body box and that "HEPA air purifiers can be expensive and require that the filter be changed every 3-6 months".
I also bought a couple of other new books about COPD and plan to read and review them here before I go to the American Thoracic Society meeting in San Diego in a couple of weeks: "Coping with COPD" by Elaine Shimberg and "Life and Breath" by Neil Schachter.
Related Topics: Living with COPD, Quitting Smoking
Technorati Tags: COPD, air purifiers, oxygen therapy, smoking cessation
