Respiratory care
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COPD is one of the most common respiratory diseases. Patients with COPD experience and suffer from various physical and psychological symptoms. We performed this study to identify symptom clusters and the effects on quality of life (QOL) in patients with COPD. ⋯ COPD subjects may have specific patterns of symptom clusters. The symptom clusters are related with clinical characteristics and had a negative impact on QOL. To enhance symptom management and QOL, approaches and interventions based on symptom clusters, rather than independent intervention for each symptom, may be more effective. Understanding COPD symptom clusters may help successful symptom management, which can improve QOL for COPD patients.
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Dynamic hyperinflation is a common cause of dyspnea and functional limitation in patients with emphysema. Dynamic hyperinflation occurs in individuals with air-flow limitation when expiratory time is decreased during periods of relative tachypnea (such as during exercise or agitation, for example). In this setting, patients with emphysema develop lung hyperinflation, impairment of inspiratory respiratory muscles, and an increase in work of breathing. ⋯ The inability of the respiratory system to respond to signals of increased demand (eg, by enlarging tidal volume and increasing inspiratory flow) results in a dissociation between afferent and efferent signaling thereby intensifying breathing discomfort, or what clinicians term dyspnea. A thorough understanding of the physiology of dyspnea and pathophysiology of dynamic hyperinflation informs the interventions used to mitigate sensations of dyspnea and the physiologic effects of dynamic hyperinflation, respectively. Pharmacotherapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, breathing techniques, positive airway pressure, and lung volume reduction are well-studied interventions that target pathways to dyspnea in patients with dynamic hyperinflation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
High-Flow Nasal Cannula Therapy Versus Intermittent Noninvasive Ventilation in Obese Subjects After Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Obese patients are considered at risk of respiratory failure after cardiothoracic surgery. High-flow nasal cannula has demonstrated its non-inferiority after cardiothoracic surgery compared to noninvasive ventilation (NIV), which is the recommended treatment in obese patients. We hypothesized that NIV was superior to high-flow nasal cannula for preventing or resolving acute respiratory failure after cardiothoracic surgery in this population. ⋯ Among obese cardiothoracic surgery subjects with or without respiratory failure, the use of continuous high-flow nasal cannula compared to intermittent NIV (8/4 cm H2O) did not result in a worse rate of treatment failure. Because high-flow nasal cannula presents some advantages, it may be used instead of NIV in obese patients after cardiothoracic surgery.
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We evaluated the outcome of subjects with ARDS in relation to etiology and severity in a retrospective cohort study of the ARDS Network randomized controlled trials. The primary outcome was 28-d mortality. The secondary outcomes were 60-d mortality and ventilator- and ICU-free days. For severity of ARDS, subjects were stratified according to PaO2/FIO2. The etiology of ARDS was classified into sepsis, pneumonia, aspiration, trauma, and others. ⋯ Severity of ARDS based on PaO2/FIO2 did not impact 28-d mortality, ventilator-free days, or ICU-free days. Among the etiologies of ARDS, trauma subjects had the lowest 28- and 60-d mortality, whereas subjects with aspiration had more ICU-free days and ventilator-free days.