Cystic fibrosis: Current treatment and promise for the future

With our increasing knowledge base and the promise of several new advances in drug therapy in the near future, most clinicians will take a more aggressive approach with early drug treatment in CF. Patients will probably start receiving antimicrobial therapy earlier, and as new therapies become available (i.e, rhDNase, aerosolized amiloride), patients with CF will be evaluated earlier in the course of the disease to assess the potential benefit of these agents. Drug therapy for patients with CF will increase in complexity during the next few years. The expertise of pharmacists will be required to help educate these patients and to manage their drug treatment regimen. Life expectancy of the patient with CF will continue to increase, and by the end of the decade, definitive therapy for this disease will probably be exist.