JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Continuous positive airway pressure for treatment of postoperative hypoxemia: a randomized controlled trial.
Hypoxemia complicates the recovery of 30% to 50% of patients after abdominal surgery; endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation may be required in 8% to 10% of cases, increasing morbidity and mortality and prolonging intensive care unit and hospital stay. ⋯ Continuous positive airway pressure may decrease the incidence of endotracheal intubation and other severe complications in patients who develop hypoxemia after elective major abdominal surgery.
-
Review
Pharmacological treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia: a review of the evidence.
Neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia are common and associated with poor outcomes for patients and caregivers. Although nonpharmacological interventions should be the first line of treatment, a wide variety of pharmacological agents are used in the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms; therefore, concise, current, evidence-based recommendations are needed. ⋯ Pharmacological therapies are not particularly effective for management of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia. Of the agents reviewed, the atypical antipsychotics risperidone and olanzapine currently have the best evidence for efficacy. However, the effects are modest and further complicated by an increased risk of stroke. Additional trials of cholinesterase inhibitors enrolling patients with high levels of neuropsychiatric symptoms may be warranted.
-
Although Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common virulent respiratory pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF), the longitudinal development of P aeruginosa infection and its effect on antibody responses and lung disease progression in children with CF remain unclear. ⋯ Early prevention and detection of nonmucoid and mucoid P aeruginosa are critical because of early acquisition and prevalence. There is a window of opportunity for suppression and possible eradication (by aggressive anti-P aeruginosa treatment) of initial nonmucoid P aeruginosa. Mucoid P aeruginosa plays a much greater role in CF lung disease progression than nonmucoid P aeruginosa. Antibody titers, cough scores, and chest radiographs are early signs of nonmucoid P aeruginosa and especially mucoid P aeruginosa stages.