New clinical practice guidelines on how to properly diagnose and treat Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1) in adults have been published in the Journal of the COPD Foundation. The guidelines have been endorsed by the Alpha-1 Foundation Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee.
Based on the latest evidence and six years of work, the guidelines recommend best practices on testing for Alpha-1, managing Alpha-1 lung and liver disease, and when augmentation therapy should be prescribed, among other recommendations. They are intended to update and simplify a 2003 document from the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society.
“We believe the Summary of Recommendations of these guidelines is the most efficient tool that busy physicians have ever had to follow best practices in detection, diagnosis, and treatment of Alpha-1 in adults,” said Robert Sandhaus, MD, PhD, who co-chaired the Guidelines committee. “The Alpha-1 community has long needed more accessible guidelines based on the latest scientific literature.
The new clinical guidelines were published in the July issue of Chronic Obstructive Lung Diseases: The Journal of the COPD Foundation. They recommend that anyone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should be tested for Alpha-1, regardless of age or ethnicity; that anyone with unexplained chronic liver disease should be tested for Alpha-1; and that parents, siblings, and children as well as extended family members of Alphas, or others with an abnormal alpha-1 gene, should receive genetic counseling and be offered testing for Alpha-1.