Rob Rausch on Chest Technique, Reps, and Smarter Training - Men's Health

News|Articles|October 19, 2026 Check out highlights from news published on day 1 of CHEST 2026, spanning asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, pulmonary rehabilitation, and fibrotic ILD. Related to this articleOctober 13th, 2026Clinicians at CHEST 2026 will see late-breaking COPD, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, and bronchoscopy data, plus exclusive expert interviews. Read moreOctober 18th, 2026In pooled phase 3 data, mepolizumab lowered mean yearly systemic corticosteroid exposure by 178.97 mg in patients with a BEC of ≥150 cells/µL. Read moreOctober 18th, 2026Chronic proton pump inhibitor use carried 60% greater odds of asthma exacerbation and nearly 4-fold odds of rescue corticosteroid use in a matched cohort of 2456 patients. Read moreOctober 16th, 2026George Washko, MD, discusses a late-breaking OBERON/TITANIA analysis showing tozorakimab reduces segmental mucus plug scores in COPD. Read moreOctober 16th, 2026Advanced practice providers described how documentation, specialty pharmacy support, and payer requirements shape biologic selection and timing.

Patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often receive systemic corticosteroids from multiple specialties, and that cumulative exposure is rarely tracked in 1 place. At the same time, the options for reducing reliance on oral steroids have grown, with approvals of dupilumab and mepolizumab for eosinophilic COPD and of depemokimab, a twice-yearly anti-interleukin (IL)-5 agent, for severe asthma.1-4 Clinicians outside pulmonology increasingly manage these patients when specialty access is limited. On October 6, 2026, Mollie Chartoff, FNP-BC, a nurse practitioner on the advanced COPD team at Vanderbilt Lung Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, moderated a virtual clinical forum for advanced practice providers on asthma and COPD. Participants included nurse practitioners and physician assistants in pulmonology, allergy and asthma, dermatology, oncology, and interventional pain practices in Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina. The discussion covered biomarkers, oral corticosteroid (OCS) exposure, biologic selection, and access barriers.

Treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) now spans 5 therapeutic pathways, and the options within them continue to expand. Recent developments include FDA approval of a once-daily single-tablet combination of macitentan and tadalafil, supported by the phase 3 A DUE trial, and a September 2026 European Respiratory Society (ERS) guideline update recommending add-on sotatercept for patients who remain at intermediate-low, intermediate-high, or high risk.1,2 How clinicians sequence oral, inhaled, parenteral, and injectable therapies in practice increasingly depends on risk assessment, payer requirements, and patient preference. In September 2026, Marc Simon, MD, MS, director of pulmonary vascular disease and the Pulmonary Hypertension Comprehensive Care Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), moderated a clinical forum in San Francisco. Participants included pulmonologists, advanced heart failure and critical care cardiologists, and a nurse practitioner from UCSF, Kaiser Permanente, and California Pacific Medical Center. The discussion covered initial combination therapy, risk reassessment, escalation beyond dual therapy, and long-term monitoring.