BMC pulmonary medicine
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2014
Non-invasive mechanical ventilation and mortality in elderly immunocompromised patients hospitalized with pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study.
Mortality after pneumonia in immunocompromised patients is higher than for immunocompetent patients. The use of non-invasive mechanical ventilation for patients with severe pneumonia may provide beneficial outcomes while circumventing potential complications associated with invasive mechanical ventilation. The aim of our study was to determine if the use of non-invasive mechanical ventilation in elderly immunocompromised patients with pneumonia is associated with higher all-cause mortality. ⋯ Our findings suggest that physicians should consider the use of non-invasive mechanical ventilation, when appropriate, for elderly immunocompromised patients hospitalized with pneumonia.
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyImpairment of pulmonary vascular reserve and right ventricular systolic reserve in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Exercise capacity is impaired in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We hypothesized that cardiovascular reserve abnormalities would be associated with impaired hemodynamic response to pharmacological stress and worse outcome in PAH. ⋯ Pulmonary vascular reserve and RV systolic reserve are significantly impaired in patients with PAH. The lower recruitable cardiovascular reserve is significantly related to a worse hemodynamic response to DST and it could be associated with a poor clinical outcome.
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyInflammatory response in mixed viral-bacterial community-acquired pneumonia.
The role of mixed pneumonia (virus+bacteria) in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been described in recent years. However, it is not known whether the systemic inflammatory profile is different compared to monomicrobial CAP. We wanted to investigate this profile of mixed viral-bacterial infection and to compare it to monomicrobial bacterial or viral CAP. ⋯ Mixed CAP has a different inflammatory pattern compared to bacterial or viral CAP. High CRP levels may be useful for clinicians to suspect mixed CAP.
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2014
The longitudinal relationship of changes of adiposity to changes in pulmonary function and risk of asthma in a general adult population.
Adiposity has been linked to both higher risk of asthma and reduced lung function. The effects of adiposity on asthma may depend on both atopic status and gender, while the relationship is less clear with respect to lung function. This study aimed to explore longitudinal weight changes to changes in forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC), as well as to incident cases of asthma and wheezing, according to atopy and gender. ⋯ Over a five-year period, increasing adiposity was associated with decreasing lung function, whereas decreasing adiposity was associated with increasing lung function. This effect was significantly greater in males than in females and increased with pre-existing adiposity, but was independent of atopy.
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyQuantitative analysis of lung elastic fibers in idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (IPPFE): comparison of clinical, radiological, and pathological findings with those of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
The pathological appearance of idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (IPPFE) with hematoxylin-eosin staining is similar to that of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The amount of elastic fibers (EF) and detailed differences between IPPFE and IPF have not been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to quantify the EF and identify the differences between IPPFE and IPF. ⋯ More than twice the amount of EF was found in patients with IPPFE than in those with IPF. Even in the lower lobes, the amount of EF was higher in patients with IPPFE than in those with IPF, although the distribution of lung EF was heterogeneous in IPPFE specimens.