Chest
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Comment Letter Comparative Study
Assessment of ventilation during the performance of elective endoscopic-guided percutaneous tracheostomy.
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Bronchial thermoplasty is a novel procedure being developed as a potential treatment for asthma. Experience with animal studies has enabled development of appropriate reliable equipment, definition of therapeutic parameters, and descriptions of tissue effects of treatment. ⋯ Application of bronchial thermoplasty to the human airway appears to be well tolerated. Treatment resulted in significant reduction of smooth muscle mass in the airways. Bronchial thermoplasty may provide therapeutic benefit in disease states such as asthma.
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Comparative Study
Follow-up study on pulmonary function and lung radiographic changes in rehabilitating severe acute respiratory syndrome patients after discharge.
To follow-up on the changes in lung function and lung radiographic pictures of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients discharged from Xiaotangshan Hospital in Beijing (by regularly receiving examination), and to analyze retrospectively the treatment strategy in these patients. ⋯ These findings suggest that lung fibrotic changes caused by SARS disease occurred mostly in severely sick patients and may be self-rehabilitated. D(LCO) scores might be more sensitive than HRCT when evaluating lung fibrotic changes.
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Comparative Study
Barriers and facilitators to end-of-life care communication for patients with COPD.
Patients with COPD frequently do not discuss end-of-life care with physicians; therefore, we sought to identify the barriers and facilitators to this communication as a first step to overcoming barriers and capitalizing on facilitators. ⋯ Although patients endorsed many barriers and facilitators, few barriers were endorsed by most patients. Barriers and facilitators associated with communication are targets for interventions to improve end-of-life care, but such interventions will likely need to address the specific barriers relevant to individual patient-physician pairs.
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Comparative Study
Survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with home mechanical ventilation: the impact of systematic respiratory assessment and bulbar involvement.
To analyze (1) the impact of a protocol of early respiratory evaluation of the indications for home mechanical ventilation (HMV) in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and (2) the effects of the protocol and of bulbar involvement on the survival of patients receiving noninvasive ventilation (NIV). ⋯ Early systematic respiratory evaluation in patients with ALS is necessary to improve the results of HMV. Further studies are required to confirm the benefits of NIV treatment in patients with bulbar involvement, especially in the early stages.