Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Conventional versus Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration for the Diagnosis of Hilar/Mediastinal Lymph Adenopathies: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Conventional transbronchial needle aspiration (c-TBNA) and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) are both valuable diagnostic techniques for the diagnosis of hilar/mediastinal lesions. Although a superiority of EBUS-TBNA over c-TBNA may be expected, evidence-based data on a direct comparison between these 2 procedures are still lacking. ⋯ EBUS-TBNA was the single best diagnostic tool, although not significantly superior to c-TBNA. Due to the favorable cost-effectiveness profile of their sequential combination, in selected scenarios with a high probability of success from the standard procedure, these should not be necessarily intended as competitive and the staged strategy could be considered in clinical practice.
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One-way endobronchial valve (EBV) treatment has shown safety and efficacy at 6 months after treatment in patients with severe emphysema and confirmed absence of interlobar collateral ventilation. Longer follow-up in this subgroup is not available. ⋯ EBV treatment results in clinically relevant benefits at 1 year of follow-up. Maintenance bronchoscopies to achieve this are needed. This study supports the use of EBV treatment in carefully selected patients with severe emphysema without collateral ventilation.
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Multicenter Study
An Open-Label Study of the Long-Term Safety of Pirfenidone in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (RECAP).
RECAP (NCT00662038) was an open-label extension study in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who completed either the Assessment of Pirfenidone to Confirm Efficacy and Safety in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (ASCEND) 016 phase 3 trial or the Clinical Studies Assessing Pirfenidone in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Research of Efficacy and Safety Outcomes (CAPACITY) 004/006 phase 3 trials. ⋯ RECAP provides long-term follow-up and safety data for pirfenidone that were consistent with the known profile, with no new safety signals observed.
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It remains unclear whether the preoperative pulmonary function parameters and prognostic indices that are indicative of nutritional and immunological status are associated with prognosis in lung cancer patients with combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) who have undergone surgery. ⋯ The preoperative CPI may predict mortality and provide more powerful prognostic information than individual pulmonary function parameters in lung cancer patients with CPFE who have undergone surgery.
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Combination therapy with the phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE-5i) sildenafil or tadalafil and the endothelin receptor antagonists (ERA) bosentan, ambrisentan, or macitentan may cause mutual pharmacokinetic interactions in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). ⋯ Only the combination with macitentan or ambrisentan led to targeted mean PDE-5i plasma concentrations and should therefore be preferred to combination with bosentan. Sildenafil-bosentan showed the strongest interaction, with low sildenafil and high bosentan concentrations. The study was not powered to analyze whether lower PDE-5i concentrations cause unsatisfying clinical response. However, plasma concentrations within a targeted range are desirable and may become of increasing importance.