Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases
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Observational Study
Utility of Transbronchial Lung Cryobiopsy in Non-Interstitial Diseases.
Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TLCB), performed with a flexible cryoprobe, is an interventional pulmonology procedure that has proved its diagnostic value for interstitial pulmonary disease. However, it has not been explored extensively as a diagnostic tool for patients with non-interstitial lung pathology, including infectious and malignant diseases. ⋯ Simultaneous TLCB and BAL constitute a safe and useful diagnostic procedure for non-interstitial pulmonary disease, with a global diagnostic yield of 92.2%. Complementary advantages of samples obtained by each technique result in a robust diagnostic strategy for infectious and malignant disease in adults, including HIV+ individuals.
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The use of simulators in a training programme for technically challenging procedures has the advantages of lowering the risk of patient complications while helping the trainees with the initial part of their learning curve. ⋯ Simulation-based training was demonstrated to be more efficient than the traditional apprenticeship model. Physical models and virtual reality simulators complement each other. Simulation-based education should be based on a mastery learning approach and structured as directed self-regulated learning in a distributed training programme.
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It is difficult to differentiate between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma in clinics; therefore, for diagnostic purposes, imaging-based measurements could be beneficial to differentiate between the two diseases. ⋯ To aid the diagnosis, CT can provide quantitative measurements to differentiate between COPD and asthma patients.
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Polygraphy (PG) remains the standard method of assessing noninvasive ventilation (NIV) effectiveness. Built-in software (BIS) of recent NIV equipment provides estimates of some ventilator parameters, but their usefulness is unclear. ⋯ In stable OHS patients on NIV, unattended home-based monitoring using Rescan is reproducible and reliable to assess quality of ventilation when compared with PG. In addition, manual scoring of events using data obtained with this device is more consistent than software-based automated analysis.
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Observational Study
Undiagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Postoperative Outcomes: A Prospective Observational Study.
The prevalence of undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) during preoperative evaluation and the best method to screen OSA and its association with postoperative complications remain unclear. ⋯ Unrecognized OSA is common in preoperative patients and is independently associated with postoperative complications. The STOP-BANG questionnaire had a lower performance in the diagnosis of OSA in a South Indian population than the level III sleep study.