[PERSONALIZED MEDICINE: CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE TREATMENT]

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex disorder and not all patients respond to all available drugs. The importance of personalized treatment in COPD is inceasingly recognized and, for clinicians, identification of phenotypes represents the first step in this process. The new GOLD does not fully reflect the heterogeneous nature of the disease, but represents a progress in the personalized treatment of COPD. Historically, the two most widely recognized clinical phenotypes of COPD are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Most COPD patients encountered in practice actually share both of these features. Genetic background, clinical presentation, comorbidities, variation in the response to treatment and propensity to exacerbations may also identify other phenotypes such as the frequent exacerbator,the asthma and COPD overlap syndrome and the persistent systemic inflammation phenotype. A more precise definition of COPD phenotypes should lead to a better targeted therapeutic approach based on these phenotypes. The purpose of this article is to point out that, in COPD, we are moving towards a more personalized therapeutic approach.