Page 14 - Škrgat, Sabina, ed. 2022. Severe Asthma - Basic and Clinical Views. Koper: University of Primorska Press. Severe Asthma Forum, 1
P. 14
for verification of our own knowledge, pro- Because treating a patient with severe
fession and organization. It also mirrors the asthma is not just a therapy, it is also a bit of
quality of our work. The SHARP initiative art.
(Severe Heterogeneous Asthma Research
collaboration, Patient-centred) is an excel- Good luck!
lent example of this kind of work and I thank
14 prof. Ratko Djukanović for invitation to this
working group.
severe asthma forum 1: severe asthma - basic and clinical views
And I am really happy about some-
thing else – the inquisitiveness of young peo-
ple that I have the honour to teach, who easi-
ly follow, who notice something that I do not
and respectfully let me know, and who have
the courage for new and difficult beginnings.
They feel with these patients who are some-
how specific nonetheless.

The present monograph has taken a
long time and a lot of thought to emerge. As
a matter of fact, the idea was first expressed
in the company of my friends, prof. Zvonka
Zupanič Slavec and prof. Jonatan V­ inkler.
In this safe “spirit” it sailed on. I enjoyed
the course of its creation because of the re-
sponses and efforts of the authors. And be-
cause of their sense of responsibility which
could be felt throughout the more than one
year of our work. This monograph consists
of six basic chapters. The basic principles of
asthma pathogenesis are followed by a chap-
ter on the long path of glucocorticoids in the
treatment of asthma, which summarizes
both the historical aspect and development of
treatment, as well as highlights the problem
of side effects and the burden of oral gluco-
corticoids. The story in the monograph then
evolves with multidisciplinary approaches
to the treatment, diagnostic and therapeu-
tic challenges and asthma phenotypes, and
ends with still existing contradictions and di-
lemmas. I would especially like to thank prof.
Sanja Popović-Grle and prof. Mitja Košnik
for their excellent performance. We wished to
write professional texts and let them be read
by fellow doctors and their teams who are al-
ready trained in the art of asthma, and those
who are yet to become so. If the present mon-
ograph helps them in this, our purpose will
be achieved.
   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19