Respiratory care
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Patients with COPD have impaired respiratory muscle strength. Twitch mouth pressure (Ptw,m) in response to magnetic stimulation of the cervical nerve has been suggested to clinically reflect inspiratory muscle strength. However, studies on Ptw,m values and their relationship with disease severity are limited. Thus, we tested the Ptw,m values of subjects with COPD and investigated the relationship of these values with disease severity. ⋯ Ptw,m values are 26.8% lower in male subjects with COPD and 25.3% lower in female subjects with COPD compared with the controls. The Ptw,m values of subjects with COPD decrease with increasing disease severity. Ptw,m was better correlated with the BODE index and exercise capacity than SNIP and PImax , which suggests that Ptw,m more accurately reflects the overall severity and burden of COPD.
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The extubation period is one of the most challenging aspects for intensive care teams. Timely recognition of the return to spontaneous ventilation is essential for reducing costs, morbidity, and mortality. Several weaning predictors were studied in an attempt to evaluate the outcome of removing ventilatory support. The purpose of this study was to analyze the predictive performance of the modified integrative weaning index (IWI) in the extubation process. ⋯ We concluded that modified IWI, similar to other extubation predictors, does not accurately predict extubation failure.
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Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) was initially used to describe single or multiple pulmonary nodules composed of proliferating smooth muscle cells (lacking cellular atypia) in premenopausal females 3 months to 20 y after hysterectomy for uterine leiomyoma. The lung is the most commonly involved site, thus including many malignant and benign entities in the differential diagnosis. The present case refers to a 47-y-old premenopausal woman with a history of subtotal hysterectomy for a uterine leiomyoma presenting with bilateral cavitating pulmonary nodules. ⋯ The histological findings in correlation with the immunohistochemical results were consistent with the diagnosis of BML. A bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed, combined with complete removal of the remaining cervix. One year later, the subject remains asymptomatic, and the pulmonary nodules are stable with regard to number, size, location, and morphology.
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Comparative Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Testing a novel method for measuring sleeping metabolic rate in neonates.
Sleeping metabolic rate (SMR) is used as a proxy for basal metabolic rate in infants, when measurement while awake is not practical. Measuring SMR via indirect calorimetry (IC) can be useful for assessing feeding adequacy especially in compromised neonates. Standard IC equipment, including a hood placed over the head, is not designed for the smallest of patients. Our aim was to determine whether a nonstandard smaller hood measures SMR in neonates similarly compared with a standard large hood. ⋯ SMR measured with a small hood yields results similar to those measured with a large hood in healthy neonates without affecting testing time or other aspects of the IC procedure. Furthermore, results in compromised infants suggest that a smaller hood may facilitate SMR testing in this population.
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The primary aim of the disease management program (DMP) for patients with COPD is to improve health outcomes and thereby to reduce overall costs. Six years after its introduction in Germany, no consensus has yet been reached as to whether the DMP has been effective in reaching these goals. The objective of the study was an evaluation of the DMP for COPD in Bavaria using routinely collected subject medical records. ⋯ Summarizing all results leads to the suggestion that the German DMP for COPD has been effective in enhancing the quality of care in regard to an improved adherence to guidelines, pharmacotherapy, exacerbations, and self-management education. However, the DMP was not able to prevent an increase in emergency hospital admissions for the stable population in the cohort.