Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases
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Comparative Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Early short-term application of high-frequency percussive ventilation improves gas exchange in hypoxemic patients.
Hypoxemia in acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) patients represents a common finding in the intensive care unit (ICU) and frequently does not respond to standard ventilatory techniques. ⋯ HFPV improved gas exchange in patients who did not respond to conventional treatment. This improvement remained unaltered until 12 h after the end of HFPV.
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Comparative Study
Clinical features and outcome of acute exacerbation of interstitial pneumonia: collagen vascular diseases-related versus idiopathic.
Relatively little is known about acute exacerbation (AE) of interstitial pneumonia associated with collagen vascular diseases (CVD-IPs). ⋯ Clinical features and outcome in AE of CVD-IPs were similar, if not identical, to those of IIPs, having a significant impact on the clinical course. AE of advanced IPF with typical radiologic features seems to have higher mortality compared with other forms of IP.
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is isolated in advanced stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ⋯ PA isolation in sputum in patients hospitalized for acute exacerbation of COPD is a prognostic marker of 3-year mortality. Poor prognosis is independent of other significant predictors of mortality such as BODE index, age and comorbidity, as measured by the Charlson index.
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Comparative Study
Accuracy and precision of desktop spirometers in general practices.
Spirometry has become an essential tool for general practices to diagnose and monitor chronic airways diseases, but very little is known about the performance of the spirometry equipment that is being used in general practice settings. The use of invalid spirometry equipment may have consequences on disease diagnosis and management of patients. ⋯ On average, desktop spirometers in general practices slightly overestimated FEV(1) and FVC values, but some devices showed substantial deviations. General practices should pay more attention to the calibration of their spirometer.
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Preoperative evaluation of lung resection candidates with impaired pulmonary reserves includes measurement of aerobic capacity. Stair climbing is an attractive low-cost alternative to treadmill exercise testing but it lacks standardisation. ⋯ We found a clinically useful correlation between speed of ascent during stair climbing and VO(2max) during treadmill exercise testing. Climbing to 20 m with an average speed of ascent of ≥15 m/min accurately identified subjects qualifying for pneumonectomy according to established criteria.