Clinical highlights from the ERS congress in Barcelona.

This article reviews a selection of scientific presentations in the area of clinical problems at the 2013 European Respiratory Society Annual Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The article discusses the most relevant topics of interest in the field of clinicalrespiratory medicine, including breakthrough reports, and studies of particular interest to the healthcare professionals. Topics are presented and discussed in the context of the most up-to-date literature, including basic science and translational research. In particular, the reviewed topics especially deal with the areas of the complex chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma even in the primary care setting, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (pathogenesis and therapy), advances in functional chest imaging, interventional pulmonology, pulmonary rehabilitation and chronic care. The 2013 European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress was held in Barcelona, Spain, with the largest worldwide attendance in the field of respiratory medicine (around 20.900 participants). A total of 4.401 abstracts were presented (77% acceptance rate), of which half dealt with clinical problems. Furthermore, outstanding lectures based on the most recent clinical updates were presented by international experts (1-6). The present article summarizes the most relevant topics of interest in the field of clinical respiratory medicine.