Mayo Clinic proceedings
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To determine the biochemical parameters of chylous pleural fluids and better inform current clinical practice in the diagnosis of chylothorax. ⋯ Chylothoraces may present with variable pleural fluid appearance and biochemical characteristics. Nonmilky appearance is common. Chylous effusions can be transudative, most commonly in patients with cirrhosis. Traditional triglyceride cutoff values used in excluding the presence of chylothorax may miss the diagnosis in fasting patients, particularly in the postoperative state.
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Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a progressive, symptomatic, and ultimately fatal disorder for which substantial advances in treatment have been made during the past decade. Effective management requires timely recognition and accurate diagnosis of the disorder and appropriate selection among therapeutic alternatives. ⋯ The article also reviews established approaches to evaluation and treatment, with emphasis on the appropriate application of calcium channel blockers, prostacyclin analogues, endothelin receptor antagonists, and phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors. In addition, the authors discuss unresolved issues that may complicate patient management, such as the clinical importance of mild or exercise-related pulmonary arterial hypertension, and they identify avenues by which treatment may advance in the future through the use of combination treatment, outcomes assessment, and exploration of alternative pharmacologic strategies.
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Mayo Clinic proceedings · Feb 2009
ReviewContrast-induced acute kidney injury: specialty-specific protocols for interventional radiology, diagnostic computed tomography radiology, and interventional cardiology.
Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) (also known as contrast-induced nephropathy) is an abrupt deterioration in renal function that can be associated with use of iodinated contrast medium. Although the increase in serum creatinine concentration is transient in most cases, contrast-induced AKI may lead to increased morbidity and mortality rates in selected at-risk populations. This review summarizes the findings of a multidisciplinary panel composed of computed tomography radiologists, interventional radiologists, cardiologists, and nephrologists convened to address the specialty-specific issues associated with minimizing the incidence of contrast-induced AKI. ⋯ The protocols are presented in the context of a review of recent guidelines and published reports of trials that discuss contrast-induced AKI and its prevention. The panel reviewed materials retrieved by a PubMed search covering the period January 1990 through January 2008 and used combinations of key words associated with the prevention and treatment of contrast-induced AKI. In addition, the panel reviewed the reference lists of selected articles and the tables of contents posted on the Web sites of selected journals for relevant publications not retrieved in the PubMed searches.