BMC pulmonary medicine
-
BMC pulmonary medicine · Jun 2020
Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein perform better than the neutrophil/lymphocyte count ratio in evaluating hospital acquired pneumonia.
The relationship between biomarkers and hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is understudied, especially in severe cases admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Compared with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), HAP might have different traits regarding biomarkers due to the previous history in hospitals. ⋯ NLCR was not comparable to conventional single biomarkers, such as CRP and PCT, for diagnosing or evaluating the severity of HAP. Composite biomarkers that have good accessibility, especially the combination of NLCR, CRP and WBC, could help with early diagnosis and severity evaluation.
-
BMC pulmonary medicine · Jun 2020
Observational StudyChanges in REVEAL risk score in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension treated with macitentan in clinical practice: results from the PRACMA study.
Macitentan is a dual endothelin receptor antagonist indicated for the long-term treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We evaluated the change over time in REVEAL risk score in incident and prevalent patients receiving macitentan for the first time. ⋯ In this study, treatment with macitentan improved the REVEAL risk strata and score in both incident and prevalent PAH patients, and in all patients regardless of the therapy strategy. Macitentan significantly improved some of REVEAL components including WHO FC, BNP/NT-proBNP, PVR, and 6-min walk test after at least 6-month follow-up.