Assessment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

ABSTRACT

Background and Aims: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] is a kind of pulmonary diseases characterized by chronic obstruction of lung that is in the form of a diffuse narrowing of airways resulting in air flow resistance. Alpha-1 antitrypsin [AAT] deficiency is genetically relatively common risk factor in patients with COPD throughout the world and the exact cause of its prevalence is unknown. We therefore performed a study to determine the frequency of AAT deficiency in patients with severe COPD compared to the healthy controls