Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused by alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and options concerning its treatment. What has the RAPID trial told us?
2016
Abstract
Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency bears a high risk for early development of COPD. There has been no evidence of any benefit conferred by augmentation therapy with human AAT in patients with moderate COPD due to AAT deficiency.
RAPID is the first randomised, placebo controlled trial showing that the augmentation therapy in COPD patients due to AAT deficiency slows the loss of lung tissue as assessed by CT lung densitometry. Furthermore, the study shows possible prognostic benefit in this group of patients.