On The Beat 10/28/20 - Huxford Clinic on Genetic COPD

On today's "On The Beat", Dr. Cameron Huxford of Huxford Clinic describes a genetic form of the respiratory illness COPD.

Troy thompson: welcome to on the beat, everyone.

I'm troy thompson.

Joining me today is the man that we have known to trust when it comes to a lot of conversations, we have dr. huxford.

How are you, my friend?

Dr. huxford: wonderful, good to see you.

Troy thompson: and of course, everyone knows that you're from och huxford clinic, pulmonary sleep medicine.

Today, we're going to talk about the main genetic form of copd.

What is it?

Dr. huxford: yes.

Most people have heard of copd, but most think it's due to smoking.

And the majority of copd is smoking-related, but there is a form that is genetic.

It is called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

Troy thompson: how do i know i have that?

Dr. huxford: most people don't.

A lot of people have never even heard of it, but it is like i said, most is due to smoking, but there are those people out there who have either never smoked and been diagnosed with copd or they don't know how they got it and no one's ever told them, no one's ever diagnosed them.

And so there is a simple blood test that we can do to check for the genetic form.

And we actually do it on everybody that comes in here.

Troy thompson: it's interesting you say genetic because you can be born with it, is that correct or not?

Dr. huxford: yes.

Yes.

It's built into your dna when you were conceived in your mother's womb.

It goes to that far back.

Troy thompson: so what are some of the symptoms that i may notice myself or our viewers at home that we may have copd or there isn't any symptoms?

Dr. huxford: yeah, most people have symptoms of copd.

Cough, shortness of breath, maybe mucus production, wheezing, things of that nature.

And it's really indistinguishable between the kinds of copd, whether it's all smoking related or whether it's genetic, it's the same symptoms. troy thompson: so what's the treatment for it?

Dr. huxford: well, if you have the genetic kind, and like i said, we test everyone who comes in here is the new patient for this.

It's a free test, it's a finger prick, but we treat the copd mostly the same with inhalers, breathing treatment.

Some may need oxygen, some may need other things, but if you have the genetic form, there is a special treatment, it's in the name.

It's called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

So that's a protein that helps your lungs function properly.

Those who are deficient of that, we can replace it iv and they do very well.

Troy thompson: so is that a cure?

Dr. huxford: it's not a cure, but it's a treatment and if you have that disease and you're never diagnosed with it, oftentimes they don't do well because they're not on the right treatment.

Troy thompson: so is it something that with this treatment especially if it's genetic that can get better with treatment long- term or the symptoms will happen for the rest of your life?

Dr. huxford: no, it can definitely get better.

And often the sooner we can find out, diagnose the problem, diagnose if it's genetic or not, we can definitely improve someone's symptoms and therefore quality of life.

Troy thompson: is this an age issue?

Dr. huxford: actually, it is.

Oftentimes people get diagnosed with copd at a very early age and you're like, "that doesn't make sense."

Regardless of their smoking history.

So we often catch people at an early age, but we test all comers because it is genetic.

Not that we may do anything special, the older we get, but if it's genetic and you have children and grandchildren it's passed down the line.

So it's important for anyone to know.

Troy thompson: so when you say the treatment, is it a pill?

Is it an injection monthly, weekly?

How does that work?

Dr. huxford: it's an iv infusion that's usually a once a week, but sometimes twice a week.

Now that with covid, it used to be you would have to come into an infusion center or a doctor's office to get it.

A lot of companies are doing home infusion now because of the virus and so we can do a lot of this at home.

Troy thompson: that's amazing.

Don't you just find technology just remarkable?

Dr. huxford: very neat, very neat.

Troy thompson: dr. huxford, we really appreciate all the information that you give us.

Dr. huxford: thank you very much.

Troy thompson: if you want to find out more, there it all is up on the screen.

If you have any concerns or those symptoms that we were just talking about, give dr. huxford a call.

There's the contact information there for you.