Articles: respiratory-distress-syndrome.
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Amiodarone, a widely used antiarrhythmic drug, is associated with pulmonary toxicity, with an estimated mortality of 1% to 33%. Standard treatment for amiodarone pulmonary toxicity (APT) has been discontinuance of the drug and steroid therapy. We report a case of APT that recurred after withdrawal of steroids and failed to respond to reinstatement of steroid therapy. Recurrent APT is a rare clinical entity that has been reported only twice in recent literature.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand Suppl · Jan 1996
Case ReportsHigh frequency ventilation techniques in ARDS.
High frequency ventilation techniques are not applied as routine measures but are still regarded as lastditch efforts in treating patients with severe ARDS or with extensive bronchoplural fistula when conventional mechanical ventilation is not capable in providing sufficient gas exchange. High frequency ventilation techniques can be used in patients with septicemia or recent cerebral bleeding, which is a contraindication for ECMO, or in patients with increased ICP. We believe that high frequency ventilation techniques provide an important therapeutic tool in the treatment of pulmonary insufficiency since the hardware requirement is minimal and, after a brief explanation, the application is easy.
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Comparative Study
Diagnostic imaging of idiopathic adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)/diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) histopathological correlation with radiological imaging.
In ten patients with idiopathic adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who had histopathologically diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), and who did not have specific underlying diseases, we compared the histopathological findings with their radiographic images in order to study the detail analysis of radiographic images and the clinical courses. These patients were roughly classified as having the interstitial pneumonia dominant type (type IP) of idiopathic ARDS, in which alveolar septal thickening, alveolitis, or both were the predominant histological findings and images showed increasing attenuation of lung fields with small honeycomb lung, or the organizing pneumonia dominant type (type OP), in which organizing exudate predominantly filled the alveoli histologically and images showed consolidation shadows with some air. Hyaline membrane was seen very frequently in patients with a short clinical course, and in accordance with a longer clinical course, widespread fibrosis and honeycomb lung covered by organizing hyaline membrane was seen with both types. Patients with type OP in whom collapse of the normal pulmonary structure was less and for whom changes on radiographic images were larger seemed to respond relatively favorably to steroid treatment, as judged from pulmonary function and radiographic images.
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Total lung capacity (TLC), inspiratory capacity (IC), functional residual capacity (FRC), and deflation pressure-volume (P-V) curves were studied in 16 intubated neonates (540-3300 g), 10 with severe respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and 6 air-ventilated with normal chest radiograms. FRC was measured using washout of a tracer gas (sulfur hexafluoride), and TLC and IC were calculated after inflating the lungs to 30 cm H2O. P-V curves were obtained during expiration from TLC using an interrupter technique, and the steepest slope of the curve, i.e. the maximum compliance (Crs-max), was calculated. ⋯ The flatter P-V curve in the RDS group was reflected also in a lower Crs-max (median 0.7 and range 0.4-1.7 cm H2O-1 kg-1) than in the air-ventilated group (2.3 and 2.0-3.1 mL cm H2O-1 kg-1, respectively; p < 0.01). Thus, there was no overlap in IC or Crs-max between the groups, suggesting that reductions in these measures may be main characteristics of RDS. On the other hand, no difference in PCD was found, indicating that, in infants with RDS, the tidal volume is distributed fairly homogeneously to the ventilated parts of the lungs.
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Peritoneal ventilation has been shown to be effective in achieving extrapulmonary oxygenation and carbon dioxide elimination in an animal model of severe adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Cisapride is a "prokinetic" agent (increases gastric emptying), that may increase the splanchnic circulation and thus favourably affect gas exchange in peritoneal ventilation. ⋯ Cisapride increases arterial oxygenation in rabbits with severe ARDS treated with peritoneal ventilation, probably due to its ability to increase splanchnic circulation. It should be considered as an adjuvant medication to peritoneal ventilation.