Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 1978
Case ReportsAcute miliary tuberculosis presenting as acute respiratory failure.
A 42 year old pregnant woman was admitted in acute respiratory failure. Viral pneumonia was suspected and oxygen therapy, CPAP, water restriction and diuretics were started with good response. She remained febrile and had an abnormal chest X-ray, a diagnosis of miliary tuberculosis was confirmed by transbronchial fibreoptic lung biopsy.
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1977
Comparative StudyIntermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) versus incentive spirometer (IS) therapy in the postoperative period.
The increase of the inflationary lung volume created by a respiratory maneuver is critical for preventing postoperative alveolar collapse. We measured this volume as achieved with IPPB or incentive spirometry (IS) in 20 postoperative surgical patients. ⋯ This difference is highly significant (p less than 0.0005 by the Wilcoxon test). We conclude that IPPB, by careful application, and with monitoring of tidal volumes, is likely to provide better prophylaxis of postoperative pulmonary complications, particularly in patients with compromised lung function and in an intensive care unit, where enough trained personel are available.