Chest
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Delayed mortality in sepsis often is linked to a lack of resolution in the inflammatory cascade termed persistent inflammation, immunosuppression, and catabolism syndrome (PICS). Limited research exists on PICS in pediatric patients with sepsis. ⋯ Pediatric patients who died of a sepsis-related cause have a pPICS phenotype nearly one-half of the time. These patients are more likely to be in the cardiac ICU than the pediatric ICU and have associated fungal infections. Special attention should be directed toward this population in future research.
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Identifying individuals at risk of progressing to COPD may allow for initiation of treatment to potentially slow the progression of the disease or the selection of subgroups for discovery of novel interventions. ⋯ Heterogeneous structural changes occur in the lungs of individuals at risk that can be quantified using CT imaging features, and evaluation of these features together with conventional risk factors improves performance for predicting progression to COPD.
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The prospective associations of preserved ratio impaired spirometry (PRISm) with new-onset macrovascular and microvascular complications and mortality among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and whether PRISm enhances the prediction ability of an established office-based risk score remain to be elucidated. ⋯ Individuals with T2D with comorbid PRISm, accounting for a considerable proportion of the population with T2D, showed significantly increased risks of adverse macrovascular and microvascular complications and mortality.
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Airway closure is an underestimated phenomenon reported in hypoxemic respiratory failure under mechanical ventilation, during cardiac arrest, and in patients who are obese. Because airway and alveolar pressure are not communicating, it leads to an overestimation of driving pressure and an underestimation of respiratory system compliance. Airway closure also favors denitrogenation atelectasis. ⋯ We describe three cases of airway closure in patients with hydrostatic pulmonary edema caused by cardiogenic shock, highlighting its resolution in a limited period of time (24 h) as pulmonary edema resolved. The waveforms show a biphasic reopening that we refer to as the "uncorking effect". The detection of airway closure may require setting positive end-expiratory pressure at or above the airway opening pressure to avoid the overestimation of driving pressure.
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Case Reports
A 28-Year-Old Woman With Nail Discoloration, Recurrent Bronchitis, and Left-Sided Facial Swelling.
A 28-year-old woman with a history of congenital hip dysplasia was referred for evaluation of recurrent bronchitis. She had undergone left hip replacement with titanium implants 11 years prior to presentation. The patient reported frequent bouts of bronchitis, sinusitis, and left-sided nontender facial swelling that started after the hip replacement surgery. ⋯ Review of symptoms was positive for chronic dry cough and facial tenderness but was negative for dyspnea, wheezing, or chest tightness. She previously had been diagnosed with common variable immunodeficiency based on low immunoglobulin levels, and the condition was maintained with monthly IV immunoglobulins but without any improvement or change in the frequency of sinusitis, bronchitis, or facial swelling. She did not use tobacco, and her family history was unremarkable.