Clinical Conversations » Podcast Feed

A VIDEO RECORDING OF THIS INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE AT THIS LINK. In treating most exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the usual regimen consists of prednisone plus 5- to 7-days of antibiotics. But what if a shorter course of antibiotic therapy would do? That would be both convenient for patients and less likely to promote antibiotic resistance. A recent paper in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease describes just such a strategy: patients received prednisone plus either 2 or 7 days of levofloxacin. There was no substantive difference in clinical results between the groups. Summarized in NEJM Journal Watch General Medicine as “practice changing,” this research seems worth a closer look. To that end we’ve invited two of the researchers and the Journal Watch editor who wrote the summary to discuss the issues raised. Have a listen to this 14-minute Clinical Conversation. (A note of no great consequence: We’ve called this “Podcast 298” because, while numbering the titles, your host