Chest
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Review
Positive airway pressure therapy with adaptive servoventilation: part 1: operational algorithms.
The beginning of the 21st century witnessed the advent of new positive airway pressure (PAP) technologies for the treatment of central and complex (mixtures of obstructive and central) sleep apnea syndromes. Adaptive servoventilation (ASV) devices applied noninvasively via mask that act to maintain a stable level of ventilation regardless of mechanism are now widely available. These PAP devices function by continually measuring either minute ventilation or airflow to calculate a target ventilation to be applied as needed. ⋯ Moreover, ASV units have become available that incorporate autotitration of expiratory PAP to fully automate the treatment of all varieties of sleep-disordered breathing. Although extremely effective in many patients when used properly, these are complex devices that demand from the clinician a high degree of expertise in understanding how they work and how to determine the proper settings for any given patient. In part one of this series we detail the underlying technology, whereas in part two we will describe the application of ASV in the clinical setting.
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COPD guidelines recommend the combined use of inhaled, long-acting β2-agonists and long-acting muscarinic antagonists if symptoms are not improved by a single agent. This systematic review assessed the efficacy and safety of the fixed-dose combination of the long-acting β2-agonist indacaterol and long-acting muscarinic antagonist glycopyrronium (QVA149) compared with its monocomponents (glycopyrronium and indacaterol) and tiotropium for the treatment of moderate to severe COPD. ⋯ Once-daily, inhaled QVA149 showed superior efficacy compared with glycopyrronium and the current standard of care, tiotropium, in patients with moderate to severe COPD.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation during pregnancy and respiratory symptoms in Children.
Prenatal consumption of omega-3 fatty acids can act as an adjuvant in the development of the immune system and affect the inflammatory response of neonates. ⋯ Our results support the hypothesis that DHA supplementation during pregnancy may decrease the incidence of respiratory symptoms in children with a history of maternal atopy.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Outcomes for Patients with Cancer Admitted to the ICU Requiring Ventilatory Support: Results from a Prospective Multicenter Study.
This study was undertaken to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with cancer requiring nonpalliative ventilatory support. ⋯ Patients with cancer with good PS and nonprogressive disease requiring ventilatory support should receive full intensive care, because one-half of these patients survive. On the other hand, provision of palliative care should be considered the main goal for patients with poor PS and progressive underlying malignancy.
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Although stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an established treatment option for early-stage lung cancer, there are no guidelines for reassessing patients for local treatment failure or intrathoracic recurrence after treatment. This study reports the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET-CT scanning when used to evaluate patients after SBRT. ⋯ FDG PET-CT scan 3 months after treatment of NSCLC with SBRT was a specific but insensitive test for the detection of recurrence or treatment failure. Serial CT scans should be used for early surveillance following SBRT, whereas FDG PET-CT scans should be reserved to define suspected metastatic disease or to evaluate new abnormalities on CT scan, or for possible reassessment later in the follow-up period after radiation-related inflammation subsides.