Articles: disease.
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Rev Med Chir Soc Med Nat Iasi · Jan 2015
Editorial Historical ArticleTheragnostics--a silent revolution.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of two new generation pulse oximeters with arterial oxygen saturation in critically ill children.
To compare the performance of two new generation pulse oximeters, one with enhanced signal extraction technology (SET) and other without enhanced SET in detecting hypoxemia and to correlate it with arterial blood gas analysis. ⋯ Both pulse oximeters were not found to be performing satisfactorily in picking up hypoxemia in the study. There was good correlation with mean SpO2 from pulse oximeters and arterial SaO2. The reliability of pulse oximetry decreases with worsening hypoxemia and hypotension, and the sensitivity for picking up hypoxemia can be as low as 15 %.
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Breathlessness is a key symptom in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with prognostic implications on health status and survival. Since most conditions underlying chronic refractory breathlessness in COPD are not modifiable, the use of opioids and benzodiazepines has been proposed to relieve it. However, respiratory depression is a known adverse event of these drugs, and concerns have been raised on their use in patients with chronic respiratory failure. ⋯ Recent observations favor the use of lower doses of opioids (≤30 mg oral morphine equivalents/day) for reduction of symptoms in those patients with severe COPD receiving long-term oxygen therapy. Low dose opioids are not associated with an increased risk of hospital admission or death in cohorts of COPD patients on long term oxygen therapy. On the contrary, benzodiazepines and opioids at higher doses might increase mortality.
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To determine the clinical factors associated with the length of hospitalization and mortality in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). ⋯ Sickle cell disease still carries a high morbidity and mortality in patients admitted to hospital. Recurrent admissions are a concern, as they impact on patient's morbidity and quality of life.