Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
-
Observational Study
Clinical significance of differentiating post-intubation and post-tracheostomy tracheal stenosis.
Post-intubation tracheal stenosis (PITS) and post-tracheostomy tracheal stenosis (PTTS) are serious complications in mechanically ventilated patients. Although the aetiologies and mechanisms of PITS and PTTS are quite different, little is known about the clinical impact of differentiating one from the other. ⋯ There were significant differences between PITS and PTTS in terms of patient and stenosis characteristics, treatment modalities and clinical outcomes. Therefore, PITS and PTTS should be considered two different entities.
-
Unclassifiable disease in chronic interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common and challenging problem but has been insufficiently studied. The 2013 update of the international multidisciplinary classification of the idiopathic interstitial pneumonias presented a classification based on observed disease behaviour with the purpose of providing guidance to clinicians in the management of these patients. The aim of this study was to apply the new disease behaviour classification (DBC) and the previously validated ILD-gender age physiology (GAP) score to a cohort of unclassifiable ILD patients and to assess the prognostic value of these two composite approaches. ⋯ The DBC approach showed strong prognostic value in unclassifiable ILD. The DBC and the ILD-GAP were complementary predictors of outcome in unclassifiable ILD.
-
This Executive Summary of the Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management and Prevention of COPD, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 2017 Report focuses primarily on the revised and novel parts of the document. The most significant changes include: (i) the assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been refined to separate the spirometric assessment from symptom evaluation. ABCD groups are now proposed to be derived exclusively from patient symptoms and their history of exacerbations; (ii) for each of the groups A to D, escalation strategies for pharmacological treatments are proposed; (iii) the concept of de-escalation of therapy is introduced in the treatment assessment scheme; (iv)non-pharmacological therapies are comprehensively presented and (v) the importance of co-morbid conditions in managing COPD is reviewed.
-
YKL-40, CCL18 and SP-D predict mortality in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia.
The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of four biomarkers, YKL-40, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 18 (CCL18), surfactant protein-D (SP-D) and CA 15-3, in patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). These markers have been studied extensively in chronic pulmonary disease, but in acute pulmonary disease their prognostic value is unknown. ⋯ YKL-40, CCL18 and SP-D levels were higher in patients with more severe pneumonia, possibly reflecting the extent of pulmonary inflammation. Of these, YKL-40 most significantly predicts mortality for CAP.