Respiratory care
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Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is often used in patients with severe respiratory failure to improve oxygenation and survival. ECMO gives the lungs an opportunity to rest and recover. The addition of prone positioning therapy used concurrently with ECMO can further aid in optimizing alveolar recruitment and reducing ventilator-induced lung injury, ultimately resulting in fewer ICU admission days and improved overall survival. The objective of this review is to perform a systematic analysis of the complications reported with prone positioning and ECMO in the adult population and to briefly report on the patient outcomes in the studies. ⋯ This review highlights the limited complications documented during prone positioning and ECMO. More studies are needed to assess the clinical efficacy of the addition of prone positioning therapy to ECMO for patients in severe respiratory failure.
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Using the newer lower limit of normal criterion instead of the conventional cutoff values to define pulmonary function abnormalities may result in different predictors of pulmonary function impairment in patients with heart failure. Therefore, we assessed predictors of pulmonary function impairment in subjects with chronic heart failure according to the lower limit of normal in comparison with conventional cutoff values. ⋯ The lower limit of normal identifies more predictors of diffusion impairment and airway obstruction compared with conventional cutoff values in subjects with chronic heart failure with left ventricular systolic dysfunction. However, lowering the conventional cutoff points yielded similar results as the lower limit of normal. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT01429376.).
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Due to the heterogeneity of cystic fibrosis (CF), the longer survival observed in cohorts of adult subjects, and inter-population variations, there is a clear need to seek further information about clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in different cohorts of subjects with CF. Our objectives were to evaluate clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in a cohort of adult subjects with CF after a 7-y follow-up period and investigate longitudinal changes in clinical scores, spirometry, 6-min walk test performance, and pulmonary artery systolic pressure as assessed by Doppler echocardiography. ⋯ After 7 y of follow-up, 20% of subjects with CF had a poor outcome. Pulmonary artery systolic pressure of ≥42 mm Hg and FEV1 of ≤30% were the most significant prognostic predictors of poor outcome. Clinical and functional deterioration was observed in survivors.
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Multicenter Study
Complications of Convex-Probe Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration: A Multi-Center Retrospective Study.
Infrequent serious complications of convex-probe endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) have been reported. The aim of this study was to assess serious complications related to convex-probe EBUS-TBNA and to determine the complication rate in a large group of subjects. ⋯ Convex-probe EBUS-TBNA is a safe method in general. However, serious complications, including infections, can be encountered rarely. All precautions should be taken for complications before and during the procedure.
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Recently, it has been proved that fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) results are in disagreement with other measurements of asthma control. The objective of this work is to present and validate new lung function/lung inflammation ratios. ⋯ We propose new lung function/lung inflammation ratios by which it may become possible to diagnose asthma in children and adolescents on the basis of a subject's spirometry and FENO measurements. We believe that our ratios are only supportive of the universally used parameters in the process of diagnosing asthma. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT01805635.).