Latest News

Bronchiectasis Patient Conference 23rd April 2024 - Recording available

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 13:44:03 GMT

The recording for the European Lung Foundation (ELF) and EMBARC Bronchiectasis Patient Conference which took place on Saturday 23 March 2024 is now available to view online - https://europeanlung.org/en/get-involved/events/bronchiectasis-patient-conference-2024/

The 4th Bronchiectasis Patient Conference – Saturday, 23rd March 2023, 10:00 – 16:00 CET

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 09:50:00 GMT

The European Lung Foundation have announced registration is open for the 4^th Bronchiectasis Patient conference.

This is a free online event open for anyone to watch and the link for registration can be found on the ELF patient priorities website https://europeanlung.org/en/get-involved/events/bronchiectasis-patient-conference-2024/

Some of the speakers announced for this year are Professor James Chalmers (UK), Professor Lucy Morgan (Australia), Dr Eva Polverino (Spain) and Dr Michal Shteinberg (Israel) as well as some patients from the ELF Patient Advisory Group.

1st Asian Chapter of the International Workshop on Lung Health (23-25 February 2024 – Goa, India)

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 09:35:03 GMT

Upon the past ten successful European editions of the International Workshop on Lung Health, incredible collaborations between pulmonologists throughout Asia and, especially, in India have developed. This ongoing interest, along with the inspirational cooperation between continents arising from the early editions of IWLH, have led to the creation of this conference in India.

Professors Blasi, Canonica, Chotirmall, and Dhar, welcome you to the inaugural International Workshop on Lung Health – 1^st Asian Chapter, which is scheduled to take place from 23-25 February 2024, in Goa, India.

Further information on the Workshop, as well as the preliminary programme are available on our website: http://lunghealthasia.org/

6th Forum on Respiratory Tract Infections

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 12:25:38 GMT

The 6th Forum on Respiratory Tract Infections will be taking place from 5th February - 7th February 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Covering topics including pneumonia, COVID-19, respiratory viruses, chronic lung infections, mycobacterial and fungal diseases the Respiratory Tract Infections Forum promises to be an exciting and stimulating environment for learning and the development of new collaborations.

The call for abstracts and the rising star programme is currently open for submissions until 7th November 2023. This will give the opportunity to young clinicians and researchers to present their valuable work.

For further information, please visit https://rti-forum.org/.

6th World Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 11:11:11 GMT

The deadline for submitting abstracts to the 6^th World Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference has been extended to the 15^th March, 2023.

Information on how to do this can be found here https://www.cvent.com/c/abstracts/cdbd18a8-812e-47a5-8cb1-e62c1a5181c7

This conference will be held in New York from Tuesday July 18^th – Thursday July 20^th 2023.

The objective of the 6th World Bronchiectasis and NTM Conference is to provide faculty and physicians in training an overview and update on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, management, and treatment of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and bronchiectasis. A brochure is attached offering more information and an insight to the programme.

To view the agenda and register for the conference, please follow this link https://web.cvent.com/event/efc57d59-8b0f-4d84-ae8c-0a86075dff80/summary

The 3rd Bronchiectasis Patient Conference – Sunday, 12th March 2023

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 11:14:28 GMT

Following the success of the previous two bronchiectasis patient conferences, EMBARC clinicians have continued to work with the ELF patient advisory group to develop the 3rd Bronchiectasis Patient Conference programme. Similar to last year, the conference will be held online and free registration will be open to everyone. Details for registration and the full programme are available on the ELF events website https://europeanlung.org/en/get-involved/events/bronchiectasis-patient-conference-2023/

Please help us spread the word and share this information with your patients through support groups, clinics etc. Conferences from the previous two years are still online for anyone to watch and can be found on the ELF patient priorities website https://www.europeanlunginfo.org/bronchiectasis/patient-conference-2022

Some of the speakers announced for this year so far are Professor James Chalmers (UK), Dr Beatriz Herrero-Cortina (Spain), Professor Ahmed Kantar (Italy) and Dr Michal Shteinberg (Israel) as well as some patients from the ELF Patient Advisory Group.

Registration can be completed via the above link or on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bronchiectasis-patient-conference-2023-registration-514708806897

EBROW 2023 - Milan, February 2023

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 08:12:04 GMT

It is our great pleasure to invite you to participate, and more importantly to actively contribute to the 3rd European Bronchiectasis Workshop (EBROW 2023).

Previous editions of the World Bronchiectasis Conference series (Milan 2017, Virtual Edition 2020, Prague 2022) have seen attendances of more than 400 participants from all over the World, with each edition enjoying excellent participant engagement through the presentation of abstracts (90 per edition in average). The 1st and 2nd European Bronchiectasis Workshops – Vienna July 2019 and Virtually July 2021, saw over 200 specialists meet to face and discuss the most relevant arguments on the subject. The 3rd European Bronchiectasis Workshop will take place on February 23rd – 25th 2023 at Humanitas University in Pieve Emanuele in the Milan area.

As has been shared during previous editions of the European Workshop, the small but very committed European community of scientists and experts in the field confirms that bronchiectasis and its comorbidities continue to often be misdiagnosed and not appropriately treated.

Epidemiology is still incomplete and country dependent, whilst diagnostic tools and definition of the pathology has progressed a lot. Management is still far from being uniform and completely satisfactory while specific treatments are still not available, even though new therapies should become available in the coming years.

In this rapidly changing panorama it is crucial to gather the experts to discuss these and other important evolutions, continuously improving the knowledge and management of this long-term condition. This is especially true in the post – covid reality and within the complex and diverse healthcare systems across Europe.

Focus is also needed on new research and case studies to help the small but active community of specialists working in the field to share knowledge and continue the networking activities that have, in recent years, produced so many improvements in the knowledge and in the management of the disease ; always keeping our focus on patients’ wellbeing and quality of life.

Joining forces, exchanging clinical experiences, sharing data and ideas, expanding the network of active experts and investigators in the field of NTM & Bronchiectasis are the main goals of the workshop.

We would therefore be delighted if you would consider attending and actively contribute to the 3rd European Bronchiectasis Workshop.

For further information please visit https://bronchiectasis-eu.org/2023/ or email info@bronchiectasis-eu.org .

Upcoming bronchiectasis trials

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 11:28:31 GMT

Our collaborators Dundee who oversee the EMBARC network have two bronchiectasis trials which will start very soon and are looking for new sites to join the studies. A brief description of the VITAL-BE and GREAT-2 studies can be viewed below. If either of these trials are of interest to your research team, please do not hesitate to get in touch using the contact details below.

Expressions of interested wanted for new sites for the VITAL-BE trial

Are you interested in contributing to investigator led research into treatment for people with bronchiectasis?

The VITAL-BE trial is a double blind, randomized, placebo controlled trial of inhaled aztreonam vs placebo in patients with bronchiectasis. The key inclusion criteria are the presence of Gram-negative bacteria in sputum (including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but patients with other Gram negative organisms can also be enrolled) and a history of 3 exacerbations per year. Patients receive treatment for 12 months to determine the impact of inhaled antibiotic treatment on exacerbations and symptoms.

We are seeking new sites to participate in the trial and seek expressions of interest from interested sites. Sites would be asked to recruit 3-5 patients.

This study is investigator led and delivered by Tayside Clinical Trials Unit, Dundee.

If you are interested please contact Margaret Band at respiratorytrials@dundee.ac.uk for more information or contact the chief investigator, Professor James Chalmers j.chalmers@dundee.ac.uk

Thank you for considering supporting this trial.

Expressions of interested wanted for new sites for the GREAT-2 trial

Bronchiectasis patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection often have frequent exacerbations and poor quality of life and so new treatments are urgently required.

The GREAT-2 trial is a double blind randomized placebo controlled trial of a novel antibody therapy directed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa being conducted in the UK and other countries. The trial is led by EMBARC, the European Bronchiectasis Network and is supported by the European Respiratory Society.

We aim to recruit patients with bronchiectasis and chronic P. aeruginosa infection. Patients are eligible to participate even if they receive other antibiotic treatments to control their condition. Patients will participate in the trial for a total of 6 months.

We seek investigators interest to participate. The trial is led by Tayside Clinical Trials Unit (TCTU). You can get more information about the study by contacting Margaret Band at respiratorytrials@dundee.ac.uk

If you think you may be interested to participate please contact us and support bronchiectasis research.

5th World Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference, Prague 2022: Success & NYC '23

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 11:22:57 GMT

The 5th World Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference 2022 was held in Prague this year (30 June – 2nd July). The event was well attended with wide ranging expertise and considered a huge success.

BronchUK presented a poster at the event titled The Association between Anxiety, Depression, Physical Disease Parameters, and Health-Related Quality of Life in the BronchUK national Bronchiectasis cohort.

It has been announced that the 6th conference will be held in New York City at the Hilton-Midtown between July 18-20 2023 and will be sponsored by the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Don’t miss out!

Further information about the latest conference and notice of future events can be found via this link: https://www.world-bronchiectasis-conference.org/

BronchUK completes recruitment with 1,630 patients involved

Fri, 20 May 2022 12:56:40 GMT

BronchUK has now closed to recruitment with 1,630 patients consented to take part in the registry from across 15 UK sites.

Study teams will now focus on completion of patient follow-ups over a five year period.

A big thank you to participating sites for their contribution and, of course, to the patients that have agreed to take part.

We will continue to keep you up to date with progress and key findings as we move into this next phase of the project.

5th World Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 12:02:43 GMT

The 5^th WBNC will be held in Prague 30^th June – 2^nd July 2022 with plans of a hybrid conference experience so those who cannot travel will not miss out!

The late breaking abstract window for posters only will be May 24^th to May 31^st

Keep up to date with conference details, including registration details and finalised programme by visiting https://www.world-bronchiectasis-conference.org/.

2nd Bronchiectasis Patient Conference - 27th March 2022

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 12:00:34 GMT

EMBARC clinicians have been working with the ELF patient advisory group to develop the 2^nd Bronchiectasis Patient Conference programme. Similar to last year, the conference will be held online and registration is open to everyone. Details for registration and full programme are available on the ELF events website https://europeanlung.org/en/get-involved/events/bronchiectasis-patient-conference-2022/

Speakers announced for this year so far are Professor James Chalmers (UK), Professor Stefano Aliberti (Italy), Dr Pieter Goeminne (Belgium) and Dr Josje Altenburg (Netherlands) who will cover topics such as

Overview of bronchiectasis and main treatments

Airway clearance techniques
Nutrition and diet
Psychological aspects
Pseudomonas
Role of viral infections
New research and treatments

Last year’s conference is still online for anyone to watch and can be found on the ELF patient priorities website https://www.europeanlunginfo.org/bronchiectasis/patient-conference-2021

Please also note that this year will see the use of a translation app to improve accessibility to the conference. Translations available on the day are Arabic, Bahasa (Indonesian), Bengali, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, and Vietnamese. The details on how to use the app will be provided with your registration link.

BronchUK: Successful Recruitment to Time and Target

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 12:37:23 GMT

BronchUK has been awarded a Certificate of Achievement from the Clinical Research Network for succesfully recruiting to time and target.

BronchUK currently has over 1,500 patients recruited from across 15 UK sites. A sterling national effort with patients recruited from Newcastle, London (UCL, Brompton, Royal Free), Edinburgh, Cambridge, Belfast, Altnagelvin, Cardiff, Birmingham, Southampton, Morecambe, Liverpool, Northumbria, and Dundee.

This level of recruitment would not be possible without the input from all our collaborators, recruiting NHS sites and, of course, patients consenting for us to collect data and giving up some of their time to partake in research.

A big thank you to all that have made this achievement possible.

Important dates for bronchiectasis

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 09:54:34 GMT

Please find below some important dates of interest for bronchiectasis patients, researchers and healthcare professionals.

ERS Congress submission deadline – 22^nd February 2022

The deadline for abstract and clinical case submission to the European Respiratory Conference has been extended to the 22^nd February. Please let us know if you are submitting EMBARC data – we would love to know about this and be able to highlight accepted abstracts!

https://www.ersnet.org/congress-and-events/congress/clinical-case-abstract-submission/?utm_source=ERS+newsletter&utm_campaign=d064a151c0-ERS_skills_course_paedatric_bronchoscopy_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_372fc3467c-d064a151c0-62857097

2^nd Bronchiectasis Patient Conference - 27^th March 2022

Following last year’s success of the first ever bronchiectasis patient conference, EMBARC clinicians have been working with the ELF patient advisory group to develop the 2^nd Bronchiectasis Patient Conference programme. Similar to last year, the conference will be held online and registration will be open to everyone. Details for registration and full programme will soon be made available on the ELF events website https://europeanlung.org/en/get-involved/events/

Please help us spread the word and share this information with your patients through support groups, clinics etc. Last years conference is still online for anyone to watch and can be found on the ELF patient priorities website https://www.europeanlunginfo.org/bronchiectasis/patient-conference-2021

Speakers announced for this year so far are Professor James Chalmers (UK), Professor Stefano Aliberti (Italy), Dr Pieter Goeminne (Belgium) and Dr Josje Altenburg (Netherlands).

5th World Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference

The 5^th WBNC will be held in Prague 30^th June – 2^nd July 2022 with plans of a hybrid conference experience so those who cannot travel will not miss out! The call for abstracts is now open with a deadline for submission on March 29^th

The late breaking abstract window for posters only will be May 24^th to May 31^st

Keep up to date with conference details, including registration details and finalised programme by visiting https://www.world-bronchiectasis-conference.org/

World Bronchiectasis Day – 01^st July 2022

The first World Bronchiectasis Day will be held on 1^st July and annually thereafter. The global planning committee will organise events to be held on the special day to help raise awareness and share knowledge of the disease with the hope to help improve the lives of patients and identify those living undiagnosed. To keep up to date with news and information on WBD, patients and healthcare providers can visit https://www.bronchiectasisandntminitiative.org/Bronchiectasis/Bronchiectasis-Resources/World-Bronchiectasis-Day

Publication Updates

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 17:33:55 GMT

We have updated our publications page with recent papers from our BronchUK collaborators. Abstracts and links to full texts are available - why not take a look: https://www.bronch.ac.uk/latest-publications

You will find further information on the following:

1. Characterisation of Eosinophilic Bronchiectasis: A European Multicohort Study.

Shoemark A, Shteinberg M, De Soyza A, Haworth C, Richardson H, Gao Y, Perea L, Dicker AJ, Goeminne PC, Cant E, Polverino E, Altenburg J, Keir HR, Loebinger MR, Blasi F, Welte T, Sibila O, Aliberti S, Chalmers JD.

Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022 Jan 20. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202108-1889OC. Online ahead of print.

PMID: 35050830

2. Heterogeneity of treatment response in bronchiectasis clinical trials.

Sibila O, Laserna E, Shoemark A, Perea L, Bilton D, Crichton ML, De Soyza A, Boersma WG, Altenburg J, Chalmers JD.

Eur Respir J. 2021 Oct 21:2100777. doi: 10.1183/13993003.00777-2021. Online ahead of print.

PMID: 34675045

3. Criteria and definitions for the radiological and clinical diagnosis of bronchiectasis in adults for use in clinical trials: international consensus recommendations.

Aliberti S, Goeminne PC, O'Donnell AE, Aksamit TR, Al-Jahdali H, Barker AF, Blasi F, Boersma WG, Crichton ML, De Soyza A, Dimakou KE, Elborn SJ, Feldman C, Tiddens H, Haworth CS, Hill AT, Loebinger MR, Martinez-Garcia MA, Meerburg JJ, Menendez R, Morgan LC, Murris MS, Polverino E, Ringshausen FC, Shteinberg M, Sverzellati N, Tino G, Torres A, Vandendriessche T, Vendrell M, Welte T, Wilson R, Wong CA, Chalmers JD.

Lancet Respir Med. 2021 Sep 24:S2213-2600(21)00277-0. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00277-0. Online ahead of print.

PMID: 34570994 Review.

4. Relationship between Symptoms, Exacerbations, and Treatment Response in Bronchiectasis.

Gao YH, Abo Leyah H, Finch S, Lonergan M, Aliberti S, De Soyza A, Fardon TC, Tino G, Chalmers JD.

Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Jun 15;201(12):1499-1507. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201910-1972OC.

PMID: 32097051 Clinical Trial.

5. A 2 × 2 factorial, randomised, open-label trial to determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of hypertonic saline (HTS 6%) and carbocisteine for airway clearance versus usual care over 52 weeks in adults with bronchiectasis: a protocol for the CLEAR clinical trial.

Bradley JM, Anand R, O'Neill B, Ferguson K, Clarke M, Carroll M, Chalmers J, De Soyza A, Duckers J, Hill AT, Loebinger MR, Copeland F, Gardner E, Campbell C, Agus A, McGuire A, Boyle R, McKinney F, Dickson N, McAuley DF, Elborn S; CLEAR study group.

Trials. 2019 Dec 19;20(1):747. doi: 10.1186/s13063-019-3766-9.

PMID: 31856887 Free PMC article.

6. British Thoracic Society Guideline for bronchiectasis in adults.

Hill AT, Sullivan AL, Chalmers JD, De Soyza A, Elborn SJ, Floto AR, Grillo L, Gruffydd-Jones K, Harvey A, Haworth CS, Hiscocks E, Hurst JR, Johnson C, Kelleher PW, Bedi P, Payne K, Saleh H, Screaton NJ, Smith M, Tunney M, Whitters D, Wilson R, Loebinger MR.

Thorax. 2019 Jan;74(Suppl 1):1-69. doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2018-212463.

PMID: 30545985 No abstract available.

7. Quality control for multiple breath washout tests in multicentre bronchiectasis studies: Experiences from the BRONCH-UK clinimetrics study.

O'Neill K, Lakshmipathy GR, Ferguson K, Cosgrove D, Hill AT, Loebinger MR, Carroll M, Chalmers JD, Gatheral T, Johnson C, DeSoyza A, Hurst JR, Bradbury I, Elborn JS, Bradley JM.

Respir Med. 2018 Dec;145:206-211. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2018.10.030. Epub 2018 Nov 1.

PMID: 30509710

BronchUK Protocol Published

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 13:34:20 GMT

The BronchUK: protocol for an observational cohort study and biobank in bronchiectasis, was published by ERJ Open Research - European Respiratory Society in 2020.

Thank you to all contributors and collaborators. The full paper is free to view and can be found via the following link: https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/7/2/00775-2020

November 2017: The European Respiratory Society Guidelines on Bronchiectasis

Tue, 28 Nov 2017 09:47:09 GMT

The European respiratory society guidelines on bronchiectasis were released in September 2017 . We are delighted that many BronchUk members were key participants in this multnational guidelines group. The guidelines are pragmatic and focus on key areas on bronchiectasis. They take the approach of identifying problems using the PICO approach (patient, Identifier, Comparator and outcomes) and then process research studies using the GRADE format. This means the conclusions are framed in a way highly useful to clinicians. Key participants in the group included Prof Adam Hill, Prof Stuart Elborn, Dr Michael Loebinger, Dr Tony De Soyza, Dr Charles Haworth and patient representatives from the U.K. The guidelines are available here

February 2017 - BronchUK team describe new treatment for severe pseudomonas infection

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 10:06:07 GMT

BronchUK team describe new treatment for severe pseudomonas infection in top ranking Respiratory Journal, American Resp. Critical Care Medicine. Press releases from Birmingham and Newcastle University provide details on this ground breaking treatment. http://spade97.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2017/03/antibioticresistantbacteriatreatment/

March 2017 - BronchUK member publishes new website for patients

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 10:05:25 GMT

BronchUK member publishes new website for patients at www.bronchiectasis.me. The Newcastle team have co-developed with patients a website for patients. It has now gone live.

December 2016 - BronchUK members are told they have been successfully entered into the European Rare Diseases Network.

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 10:04:40 GMT

BronchUK members are told they have been successfully entered into the European Rare Diseases Network. Members Haworth (Cambridge), Loebinger (Brompton, London) and De Soyza (Newcastle) have been accepted into an super specialised network to define patient care and support trials led by Chalmers (Dundee)