Journal of thoracic disease
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To assess the comparative efficacy and safety of first-line immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with wild-type epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). ⋯ Pem + CT seemed to be more effective first-line regimen for advanced NSCLC with wild-type EGFR or ALK, especially for patients with NSCC. However, limitations of the study including methodological quality and immature OS data need to be considered.
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Numerous evidence-based guidelines (EBGs) pertaining to ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) have been published by domestic and international organizations, but their qualities have not been reported. ⋯ The overall quality of the identified EBGs pertaining to VAP was classified as moderate. The management of VAP varied by guideline. More high-quality evidence is needed to improve guideline recommendations.
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Review
Completely thoracoscopic surgical stabilization of rib fractures: can it be done and is it worth it?
Surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) is now a common operation at most high-volume trauma centers. Increased experience with the procedure has spawned a variety of technical modifications to minimize incision length, muscle division, scapular retraction, and general tissue trauma. The ultimate example of such a minimally invasive approach is completely thoracoscopic SSRF, which refers to using a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) technique to both reduce and fixate rib fractures in an intra-thoracic fashion. ⋯ A VATS may also aid in trainee education. Despite these theoretical benefits, early attempts at thoracoscopic SSRF have been limited by both user inexperience and inadequate instrumentation. Furthermore, there are currently no data comparing the efficacy of completely thoracoscopic SSRF to either contemporary, minimally-invasive, extra-thoracic SSRF or non-operative management.
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Leptomeningeal spread in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations who experience disease progression on TKIs portends a poor prognosis. Mutation profiling of tumour DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples can be used to determine the presence of the EGFR T790M resistance mutation, indicating that osimertinib, a CNS-penetrating 3rd generation TKI may be efficacious. ⋯ Standard-dose osimertinib resulted in a clinically meaningful response in a patient with EGFR T790M-negative 1st generation EGFR TKI refractory leptomeningeal disease. Next generation sequencing and ddPCR has a role at identifying the C797S mutation and its allelic conformation with the T790M mutation with clinical implications.
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The aim of the study was to assess the predictive ability of risk calculators of the EuroSCORE II and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) due to severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) during a 30-day and 1-year follow-up. ⋯ The EuroSCORE II and STS score showed satisfactory discrimination and calibration for predicting 30-day and 1-year mortality in patients undergoing AVR.