Chest
-
To evaluate the effects of various levels of pressure support (PS) during noninvasive ventilation delivered through a helmet on breathing pattern, inspiratory effort, CO2 rebreathing, and comfort. ⋯ In volunteers, the helmet is efficient in ventilation, allowing a Vt increase and RRpes reduction. A significant discomfort was present only at the highest level of assistance; however, it did not affect patient/ventilator interaction.
-
A restrictive pattern of left ventricular filling is often present in patients with severe heart failure. Although the hemodynamic effects of levosimendan have been studied, the effects of levosimendan on LV filling pattern have not been investigated. ⋯ Treatment with levosimendan improved measures of left ventricular diastolic function. Consequently, left ventricular stroke volume was increased.
-
This study was undertaken to measure delays of diagnosis and to assess the causes for those delays in patients with lung cancer. In addition, the relation of delay times and survival was analyzed. ⋯ Several reasons for long delays were found, but on many occasions patients underwent numerous consecutive procedures before a diagnosis of cancer was confirmed. Shortening the diagnostic and treatment delay times might be possible with little extra cost by a multidisciplinary team approach and by rapid access to carefully planned investigations, but decreasing the patient delay might be more difficult. This study shows that long specialist treatment delays are not correlated with worse prognosis in patients with advanced disease. In patients with more limited disease, the delay time may be more critical, and if curative treatment is the goal, the diagnostic process should proceed without needless delay to avoid a situation in which curable disease becomes incurable.
-
To assess the effect of palivizumab licensing for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prophylaxis on national pediatric ICU (PICU) admissions and on the need for mechanical ventilation due to RSV bronchiolitis in Israel. ⋯ Most of the children with severe RSV bronchiolitis needing PICU admission from 2000 to 2002 born at term did not have CLD and were not candidates for RSV prophylaxis according to the current recommendations.
-
Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Enoxaparin in the treatment of deep vein thrombosis with or without pulmonary embolism: an individual patient data meta-analysis.
Low-molecular-weight heparins have been compared with unfractionated heparin (UFH) for treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). However, a comparison of their efficacy in the presence or absence of pulmonary embolism (PE) has not been studied. We estimated the efficacy and safety of enoxaparin vs UFH in patients with proximal DVT with/without symptomatic PE using a meta-analysis of individual data from randomized controlled trials. ⋯ The efficacy and safety of enoxaparin vs UFH for DVT treatment is not modified by the presence of symptomatic PE.