Korean J Med.
2012 Oct;83(4):417-423.
Definition of Severe Refractory Asthma
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Asan Medical Center, Ulsan University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. yscho@amc.seoul.kr
Abstract
- Severe refractory asthma is a group of asthmatic patients showing heterogeneous phenotypes with frequent exacerbations and progressive airway remodeling despite high levels of therapy. Studies of severe asthma is difficult not only because of diverse pathogenesis, difficulty in translating pre-clinical human and animal models to clinical trials, and absence of biomarkers that predict therapeutic efficacy but because of lack of consensus on precise definition and diagnostic criteria of severe asthma. Furthermore, the burden of severe asthma is considerably high, therefore, there has been an urgent need for researching strategies to overcome severe asthma. In conclusion, precise characterization, exact definition, and appropriate classification of severe asthma would be critical to improve management of this challenging disease and these efforts could help to develop novel therapeutic strategies.
