PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - James D. Chalmers AU - Stefano Aliberti AU - Francesco Blasi TI - State of the art review: management of bronchiectasis in adults AID - 10.1183/09031936.00119114 DP - 2015 Mar 18 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - ERJ-01191-2014 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2015/03/18/09031936.00119114.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2015/03/18/09031936.00119114.full AB - Bronchiectasis is a rapidly developing field: review of recent RCTs and progress towards developing new therapies http://ow.ly/JXGWM Formerly regarded as a rare disease, bronchiectasis is now increasingly recognised and a renewed interest in the condition is stimulating drug development and clinical research. Bronchiectasis represents the final common pathway of a number of infectious, genetic, autoimmune, developmental and allergic disorders and is highly heterogeneous in its aetiology, impact and prognosis. The goals of therapy should be: to improve airway mucus clearance through physiotherapy with or without adjunctive therapies; to suppress, eradicate and prevent airway bacterial colonisation; to reduce airway inflammation; and to improve physical functioning and quality of life. Fortunately, an increasing body of evidence supports interventions in bronchiectasis. The field has benefited greatly from the introduction of evidence-based guidelines in some European countries and randomised controlled trials have now demonstrated the benefit of long-term macrolide therapy, with accumulating evidence for inhaled therapies, physiotherapy and pulmonary rehabilitation. This review provides a critical update on the management of bronchiectasis focussing on emerging evidence and recent randomised controlled trials.