title: Best practices in the treatment of early cystic fibrosis lung disease.
abstract: For many years, management of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease was focused on symptomatic treatment of chronic lung infection, which is characterized by cough and sputum production, leading to progressive lung damage. With increasing survival and better knowledge of the pathogenesis of CF lung disease, it has become clear that treatment has to start very early because lung damage occurs in young patients, often before obvious symptoms appear. The arrival of new cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance-regulator (CFTR)-correcting therapies will bring more opportunities to prevent the disease, apart from only treating chronic lung infection. In this review, a summary of the current knowledge of early CF lung disease is provided, based on animal model studies, as well as on data obtained from well structured follow-up programs after newborn screening (NBS). The most important clinical guidelines for treating young CF patients are also summarized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, UZ Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marijke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Proesmans
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D019005:Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
chemical_list: D019005:Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator
keywords: animal models; cystic fibrosis; early therapy; lung disease; newborn screening