Chest
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Pulmonary fibrosis comprises a wide range of fibrotic lung diseases with unknown pathogenesis and poor prognosis. Familial pulmonary fibrosis (FPF) represents a unique subgroup of patients in which at least one other relative is also affected. Patients with FPF exhibit a wide range of pulmonary fibrosis phenotypes, although idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is the most common subtype. ⋯ Researchers are beginning to show how the presence of rare variants may inform clinical management, such as informing predisposition risk for yet unaffected relatives as well as informing prognosis and therapeutic strategy for those already affected. Despite these advances, rare variants in surfactant and telomere-related genes only explain the genetic basis in about one-quarter of FPF kindreds. Therefore, research is needed to identify the missing genetic contributors of pulmonary fibrosis, which would not only improve our understanding of disease pathobiology but may offer additional opportunities to improve the health of patients.
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Thoracentesis and tube thoracostomy are common procedures with bleeding risks, but existing guidelines may be overly conservative. We reviewed the evidence on the safety of thoracentesis and tube thoracostomy in patients with uncorrected coagulopathy. ⋯ Among patients with uncorrected coagulopathy who underwent thoracentesis or tube thoracostomy, major bleeding and mortality complications were uncommon. Our results suggest that in appropriately selected patients, thoracentesis or tube thoracostomy can be performed safely.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Personalised Variable vs Fixed Dose Systemic Corticosteroid Therapy in Hospitalized Patients with Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Prospective, Multicentered, Randomised, Open-Label Clinical Trial.
Systemic corticosteroids for the treatment of COPD exacerbations decrease treatment failure and shorten the length of hospitalization. However, the optimal dose is unclear. ⋯ ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT02147015; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov.
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Timely care is an important dimension of health care quality, but the impact of delays in care on lung cancer outcomes is unclear. Quantifying the impact of delays in cancer treatment on survival is necessary to inform resource allocation, quality improvement initiatives, and lung cancer guidelines. Review of the available literature demonstrated significant heterogeneity between studies in terms of the impact of delay. ⋯ Precise quantification of the impact of delay is not currently possible. Given the available evidence, quality metrics for the timeliness of lung cancer care should focus on local barriers to care. These metrics should be carefully designed to take into account clinical-radiographic stage at initial presentation.
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This document summarizes suggestions of the central sleep apnea (CSA) Technical Expert Panel working group. This paper shares our vision for bringing the right device to the right patient at the right time. For patients with CSA, current coverage criteria do not align with guideline treatment recommendations. ⋯ Narrow coverage criteria that require near elimination of obstructive breathing events on CPAP or BPAP in the spontaneous mode, even if at poorly tolerated pressure levels, may preclude therapy with BPAP with backup rate or adaptive servoventilation, even when those devices provide demonstrably better therapy. CSA is a dynamic disorder that may require different treatments over time, sometimes switching from one device to another; an example is switching from BPAP with backup rate to an adaptive servoventilation with automatic end-expiratory pressure adjustments, which may not be covered. To address these challenges, we suggest several changes to the coverage determinations, including: (1) a single simplified initial and continuing coverage definition of CSA that aligns with OSA; (2) removal of hypoventilation terminology from coverage criteria for CSA; (3) all effective therapies for CSA should be covered, including oxygen and all PAP devices with or without backup rates or servo-mechanisms; and (4) patients shown to have a suboptimal response to one PAP device should be allowed to add oxygen or change to another PAP device with different capabilities if shown to be effective with testing.