BMC pulmonary medicine
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2013
Dyspnea affective response: comparing COPD patients with healthy volunteers and laboratory model with activities of daily living.
Laboratory-induced dyspnea (breathing discomfort) in healthy subjects is widely used to study perceptual mechanisms, yet the relationship between laboratory-induced dyspnea in healthy volunteers and spontaneous dyspnea in patients with chronic lung disease is not well established. We compared affective responses to dyspnea 1) in COPD patients vs. healthy volunteers (HV) undergoing the same laboratory stimulus; 2) in COPD during laboratory dyspnea vs. during activities of daily living (ADL). ⋯ In this pilot study, we found no evidence that a history of COPD alters the affective response to laboratory-induced dyspnea, and no difference in affective response between dyspnea evoked by this laboratory model and dyspnea evoked by ADL.
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2013
Facilitating education in pulmonary rehabilitation using the living well with COPD programme for pulmonary rehabilitation: a process evaluation.
Standardised evidenced-based materials and mechanisms to facilitate the delivery of the education component of pulmonary rehabilitation are not widely available. The aims of this study were: 1) to adapt the self-management programme Living Well with COPD (LWWCOPD) programme, for embedding in pulmonary rehabilitation; and, 2) to conduct a process evaluation of the adapted programme. ⋯ This rigorous process evaluation has demonstrated that the LWWCOPD programme for pulmonary rehabilitation can be used to deliver high quality, consistent and equitable education sessions during hospital and community-based pulmonary rehabilitation. This programme is now available worldwide (http://www.livingwellwithcopd.com/living-well-and-pulmonary-rehabilitation.html).
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2013
Effect of dynamic random leaks on the monitoring accuracy of home mechanical ventilators: a bench study.
So far, the accuracy of tidal volume (VT) and leak measures provided by the built-in software of commercial home ventilators has only been tested using bench linear models with fixed calibrated and continuous leaks. The objective was to assess the reliability of the estimation of tidal volume (VT) and unintentional leaks in a single tubing bench model which introduces random dynamic leaks during inspiratory or expiratory phases. ⋯ In a bench model, the presence of unintentional random leaks may be a source of error in the measurement of VT and leaks provided by the software of home ventilators. Analyzing leaks during inspiration and expiration separately may reduce this source of error.
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2013
Finding an alternative diagnosis does not justify increased use of CT-pulmonary angiography.
The increased use of computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) is often justified by finding alternative diagnoses explaining patients' symptoms. However, this has not been rigorously examined. ⋯ Our data do not support the argument that increased CTPA use is justified by finding an alternative pulmonary pathology that could explain patients' symptoms. CTPA is being increasingly used as the first and only test for suspected PE.
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Jan 2013
Observational StudyPerseverant, non-indicated treatment of obese patients for obstructive lung disease.
Bronchodilators are a mainstay of treatment for patients with airflow obstruction. We hypothesized that patients with obesity and no objective documentation of airflow obstruction are inappropriately treated with bronchodilators. ⋯ A substantial proportion of patients with obesity referred for pulmonary function testing did not have obstructive lung disease, but were treated nonetheless, before and after spirometry demonstrating absence of airway obstruction.