Editorial: Tiotropium; more knowledge leads to more questions ||FREE PAPER||

Dave Singh

Medicines Evaluation Unit, University Hospital of South Manchester Foundation Trust, University of Manchester, Southmoor Rd, M23 9QZ, UK

This issue of the International Journal of COPD has 3 original research papers that study the effects of tiotropium. These papers are very different, addressing the effect of tiotropium on the small airways (Incorvaia et al 2008), the benefit of additional tiotropium treatment during a pulmonary rehabilitation programme (Kesten et al 2008), and the effect of tiotropium when prescribed to patients already taking theophylline (Kawayama et al 2008). Each paper offers new information about the effects of tiotropium, but also leads us towards further questions that need answering.