BioMed research international
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Comparative Study
The diagnosis of invasive and noninvasive pulmonary aspergillosis by serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid galactomannan assay.
The incidence and mortality of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) are rising, particularly in critically ill patients and patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Noninvasive aspergillosis occurring in these patients requires special attention because of the possibility of developing subsequent IPA, given the poor health and worsened immune state of these patients. We compared the performance of the Platelia galactomannan (GM) enzyme immunoassay in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and serum. ⋯ The BALF-GM assay is more sensitive in detecting pulmonary aspergillosis than serum-GM assay and fungal cultures. However, BALF-GM assay has a high false-positive rate at the cutoff index of 0.5. Hence, the diagnostic cutoff index of the BALF-GM assay should be improved to avoid the overdiagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis in clinic.
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Pediatric airway management is a challenge in routine anesthesia practice. Any airway-related complication due to improper procedure can have catastrophic consequences in pediatric patients. The authors reviewed the current relevant literature using the following data bases: Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline (OVID SP), and Dynamed, and the following keywords: Airway/s, Children, Pediatric, Difficult Airways, and Controversies. ⋯ The data show that pediatric anesthesia practice in perioperative airway management is currently lacking the strong evidence-based medicine (EBM) data that is available for adult subpopulations. A number of procedural steps in airway management are derived only from adult populations. However, the objective is the same irrespective of patient age: proper securing of the airway and oxygenation of the patient.
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Patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and hypercapnia present a formidable treatment challenge. We examined the use of esophageal balloon for assessment of transpulmonary pressures to guide mechanical ventilation for successful management of severe hypercapnia. ⋯ The use of esophageal balloon as a guide to mechanical ventilation was able to treat severe hypercapnia in ARDS patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of Direct and Indirect Laryngoscopes in Vomitus and Hematemesis Settings: A Randomized Simulation Trial.
Videolaryngoscopes may not be useful in the presence of hematemesis or vomitus. We compared the utility of the Macintosh laryngoscope (McL), which is a direct laryngoscope, with that of the Pentax-AWS Airwayscope (AWS) and McGRATH MAC (McGRATH), which are videolaryngoscopes, in simulated hematemesis and vomitus settings. ⋯ The performance of McGRATH and McL can be superior to that of AWS for tracheal intubation in vomitus and hematemesis settings in adults.
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Nowadays, S53P4 bioactive glass is indicated as a bone graft substitute in various clinical applications. This review provides an overview of the current published clinical results on indications such as craniofacial procedures, grafting of benign bone tumour defects, instrumental spondylodesis, and the treatment of osteomyelitis. ⋯ Especially in craniofacial reconstructions like mastoid obliteration and orbital floor reconstructions, in grafting bone tumour defects, and in the treatment of osteomyelitis very promising results are obtained. Randomized clinical trials need to be performed in order to determine whether bioactive glass would be able to replace the current golden standard of autologous bone usage or with the use of antibiotic containing PMMA beads (in the case of osteomyelitis).