In the management of COPD, decreased symptoms and improved quality of life are two main goals.  We do this by:

• Instituting bronchodilator therapy
• Identifying and treating comorbid diseases
• Initiating pulmonary rehabilitation
• Starting oxygen therapy when it is needed
• Palliative care when it is needed

Recently noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has also started to become part of COPD care.  

In addition, one of the goals of COPD management is to preserve lung function by:

• Educating the patient about smoking cessation,
• Instituting disease management, such as vaccination programs to reduce the incidence of pneumonia with a pneumococcal vaccine and an influenza vaccine, and for a subset of patients, screening and testing for other potentially treatable conditions, such as patients who may have alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, which can lead to emphysema.