Symposium
Chairs: Raffaele Scala (Arezzo, IT), Wolfram Windisch (Cologne, DE), Tomoaki Hoshino (Fukuoka, JP)

Beyond quality of life: important outcome variables that are influenced by long-term noninvasive ventilation Anita Simonds (London, United Kingdom)
Noninvasive ventilation in stable hypercapnic COPD: the pro arguments Marieke L. Duiverman (Groningen, Netherlands)
Noninvasive ventilation in stable hypercapnic COPD: the con arguments Michael Dreher (Aachen, Germany)
The take-home message regarding chronic NIV in COPD Wolfram Windisch (Cologne, Germany)