This article reviews a selection of presentations at the 2010 annual meeting of the European Respiratory Society held in Barcelona, Spain, which was the largest congress ever in the field of respiratory medicine. The best abstracts from the groups of the clinical assembly (clinical problems, rehabilitation and chronic care, imaging of the lung, interventional pulmonology, diffuse parenchymal lung disease, and general practice and primary care) are presented in the context of the current literature. The 2010 European Respiratory Society (ERS) meeting congress was held in Barcelona, Spain, September 18-22, 2010. The largest congress ever in the field of respiratory medicine included a large programme, with both presentation of original scient...