Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research
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Pulmonary hypertension occurs commonly in patients with interstitial lung disease but is frequently not diagnosed or, if diagnosed, not further evaluated. In this study, we wanted to determine the accuracy of right ventricular systolic pressure measured by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography compared with hemodynamic measurements taken at right heart catheterization in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis who had suspected pulmonary hypertension. ⋯ Pulmonary hypertension occurs commonly in IPF. Accurate classification of pulmonary hemodynamics and degree of pulmonary hypertension severity require right heart catheterization. Prospective screening Doppler echocardiography and pulmonary hypertension therapeutic interventions warrant further prospective study in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
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Diffuse comet-tail B-line artifacts in lung ultrasound are a sign of alveolar-interstitial syndrome, but isolated transthoracic scans positive for B-lines (multiple B lines or B+) could be detected in other conditions. The aim was to assess the prevalence and distribution of this sonographic sign in patients with normal lung or isolated alveolar consolidation in chest radiography. ⋯ B+ scans can be detected in the chest areas surrounding an isolated alveolar consolidation and in the laterobasal scans of a radiographic normal lung. These features should always be considered when lung ultrasound is performed to rule out the alveolar-interstitial syndrome in an emergency setting. Moreover, B+ patterns have a satisfactory negative predictive value for radiographic lung opacities, which could have added diagnostic value in the ED evaluation of dyspneic patients.
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Two randomized controlled trials confirmed the existence of so-called ventilator-associated lung injury by showing reduced morbidity and mortality with the use of lower tidal volumes in patients with acute lung injury (ALI) or its more severe form, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). While guidelines now strongly advise using lower tidal volumes in ALI/ARDS patients, at present there are no widely agreed upon guidelines for setting tidal volumes in patients who do not suffer from ALI/ARDS. The literature was searched for clinical studies on lung-protective mechanical ventilation using lower tidal volumes in patients not suffering from ALI/ARDS. ⋯ The inconsistent results from smaller randomized controlled trials, however, do not definitely support the use of lower tidal volumes. The association with potentially injurious ventilator settings, in particular large tidal volumes, suggests that additional lung injury in mechanically ventilated patients without ALI/ARDS is, in part, a preventable complication. Nevertheless, more prospective studies are needed to evaluate optimal ventilator management strategies for patients not suffering from ALI/ARDS.
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Several studies reported low nasal nitric oxide (nNO) levels in subjects with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and proposed nNO measurement as a diagnostic tool to screen for the disease. All these reports used the aspiration nNO method. The goal of this study was to evaluate nNO in patients with PCD using different methods of NO measurement, including continuous aspiration, silent exhalation, and single-breath humming exhalation, which increases NO wash-out from the paranasal sinuses to the nose. ⋯ nNO is consistently low in PCD with good specificity and sensitivity whatever the method used for NO measurement. The extremely low levels of nNO during humming support the notion that NO is defective in the paranasal sinuses in PCD.
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High tidal volume ventilation can cause inflammatory reaction in lungs. Integrins are associated with regulating lung inflammation and edema following acute lung injury. Integrin alpha v beta 6 expression in ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) and the ability of the RGD-peptidomimetic agent S247 to attenuate VILI in rats were investigated. ⋯ Pretreatment with S247 attenuated VILI, suggesting pulmonary epithelial integrins are involved in its pathogenesis and agents such as S247 may be useful in treating it.